H.R. 5973 would authorize the appropriation of $8 million annually over the 2022-2027 period for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to provide grants and assistance for fish, wildlife, and habitat restoration within the Great Lakes Basin.
For this estimate, CBO assumes that the legislation will be enacted late in fiscal year 2022 and that the authorized amounts will be appropriated each year.
In 2022, USFWS allocated $1 million for the program. CBO estimates that H.R. 5973 would authorize an increase in spending subject to appropriation in 2022 of $7 million, the difference between the authorized amount and the allocated amount. Based on historical spending patterns for similar activities, we estimate that implementing the bill would cost $31 million over the 2022-2026 period and $16 million after 2026.
The costs of the legislation, detailed in Table 1, fall within budget function 300 (natural resources and environment).
