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1 .This is Scientific American 60-Second Science. I'm Josh Fischman. Got a minute?
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2 .In last week's pre-Christmas rush, the U.S.Congress slammed together the $1-trillion federal budget bill for 2015, just before funds ran out.
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3 .But the bill wasn't all about the money.
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4 .Congress took advantage of the fiscal scramble to change rules about the environment and energy, which do not belong in appropriation bills.
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5 .Normally such changes are encoded in what are called "laws," and are debated out in the open.
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6 .But the budget bill is a chance for Congress to slip in controversial rules called riders without much debate.
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7 .If members object, the bill stalls, and the government shuts down and no one wants to be blamed for that federal fiasco.
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8 .So the riders gallop in.
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9 .The Environmental Protection Agency got its budget, for instance, but with strings attached:
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10 .although agriculture is a major source of atmospheric methane, the EPA now is prohibited from using its money to require farmers to report greenhouse gas emissions.
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11 .And the agency cannot regulate farm ponds and irrigation ditches under the Clean Water Act.
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12 .In another example, the Department of Agriculture must speed up permits for companies making genetically modified organisms.
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13 .And the feds must loan money to firms to build coal-fired power plants overseas.
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14 .That requirement reverses a previous ban.
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15 .These rules and others last through September 2015, when this budget bill runs out.
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16 .And then, if history is any guide, this whole stealth legislation process starts all over again.
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17 .Thanks for the minute, for Scientific American's 60-Second Science. I'm Josh Fischman.
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