No study of EPA regulations in final spending agreement

A last-minute spending deal to avoid a government shutdown reached late Friday night does not include a requirement to study the effects of Environmental Protection Agency’s regulations, a spokesman for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said.

Key Senate Democrats said Friday afternoon that they were considering accepting such a study in exchange for Republicans dropping policy riders restricting various EPA rules.

Neither the study nor the EPA riders are included in the final agreement, Reid spokesman Jon Summers told The Hill Saturday.

Republicans had been pushing for the inclusion of a series of policy riders that would prohibit EPA from implementing climate and other regulations in the legislation to fund the government through the end of the fiscal year.

President Obama praised the spending deal late Friday night, touting the absence of the environmental riders.