H.R. 4636 would authorize the Department of State and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to advance the federal government’s ongoing efforts to reduce pollution from solid materials such as plastics in the world’s oceans. Such pollutants are called marine debris. Several federal agencies, including the department and USAID, encourage foreign countries to reduce such pollution and implement waste management, recycling, and public-education programs.
On the basis of information about the agencies’ ongoing programs to prevent and remove marine debris, CBO expects that some of the bill’s goals would be met through existing programs. USAID and the department have provided international assistance of roughly $10 million each year to reduce marine debris, primarily in Asia. CBO estimates that replicating those efforts in Latin American and African countries would require additional appropriations of $20 million annually.
Under the bill, the department and USAID also would be required to monitor and evaluate their pollution reduction programs and to report to the Congress on their efforts. Using information about the cost of similar reports, CBO estimates that satisfying those requirements would cost less than $500,000 over the 2021-2025 period.
Finally, the bill would authorize the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation to invest in integrated waste management systems in developing countries. The corporation can make such investments in many types of infrastructure projects under current law; thus, specifying that it can invest in those systems would not increase its authority relative to current law.
In total, CBO estimates that implementing H.R. 4636 would cost $46 million over the 2021-2025 period; such spending would be subject to the appropriation of the estimated amounts.
The costs of the legislation, detailed in Table 1, fall within budget function 150 (international affairs).
On October 31, 2019, CBO transmitted a cost estimate for S. 2372, the Save Our Seas 2.0: Enhanced Global Engagement to Combat Marine Debris Act, as reported by the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations on September 26, 2019. The two bills are similar. However, S. 2372 also would require the Environmental Protection Agency to expand its current programs to reduce marine debris and CBO’s estimate of the cost of implementing S. 2372 is correspondingly higher.
