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By Amanda Hampton, Associate,
Nessle & Blakey
Although it seems summer has just started, the deadline for Congress to pass appropriations legislation for fiscal year 2024 is rapidly approaching. As such, legislators will have plenty of work over the remainder of the summer and early fall to come to an agreement on funding levels for federal agencies.
Each fiscal year, 12 appropriations bills must be passed through both chambers of Congress by September 30 to fund federal government operations. In previous years, Congress has been unable to meet the deadline, and instead, opted to enact temporary funding through continuing resolutions that support government activities until full appropriations packages are passed. This was the case in fiscal year 2023, when Congress was unable to enact a full appropriations package until nearly three months after the September 30 deadline. Likewise, full appropriations for fiscal year 2022 were enacted five and a half months after the deadline.
This beginning of this year’s appropriations process has been closely tied to the negotiations to suspend the debt ceiling until January 2025, which resulted in the enactment of the Fiscal Responsibility Act on June 3. The Fiscal Responsibility Act set a $1.59 trillion cap on base discretionary funding, allocating $886.3 billion to defense spending and $703.7 billion to non-defense spending. However, the cap on defense spending would decrease and the cap on non-defense spending would increase if Congress fails to enact full appropriations by January 1. The adjusted spending caps would apply to all programs, including those that received funding through legislation already enacted, and would be enforced through sequestration.
On June 14, the House Committee on Appropriations debated and approved its subcommittee allocations for each of the 12 spending bills. Approved by a 33-27 vote, the committee allocated $1.471 trillion for total discretionary spending, $65.21 billion of which is reserved for the total discretionary funding for the Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development bill.
The $1.471 trillion allocated for total discretionary spending returns federal spending to the level enacted for fiscal year 2022. Chair of the House Committee on Appropriations Kay Granger (R-TX) described the committee’s decision as reflective of “the change Members on [her] side of the aisle want to see by returning spending to responsible levels.”
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Unlike in past years, legislators have several opportunities to depart from the funding levels originally appropriated to each subcommittee. Provisions in the Fiscal Responsibility Act grant greater flexibility to lawmakers by allowing them to rescind unspent funding and redirect it to other programs while remaining on budget. The House Committee on Appropriations issued a report outlining its subcommittee allocations, stating that efforts to claw back unspent funds “can and should continue.” The committee proposed to rescind $115 billion in funding previously allocated to the Internal Revenue Service, Environmental Protection Agency, General Services Administration, and the Department of Agriculture, among other agencies. House Republican legislators remain committed to prioritizing spending for national security, veterans, and border security purposes as they navigate the appropriations process.
On the other side of Capitol Hill, the Senate Committee on Appropriations met the spending cap established by the Fiscal Responsibility Act by allocating $1.59 trillion for total discretionary spending. The committee also approved its subcommittee allocations for the 12 spending bills, providing $88.09 billion for its Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development bill. Chair of the Senate Committee on Appropriation Patty Murray (D-WA) expressed her commitment to lessening the “blow of the cuts and caps” caused by the debt ceiling negotiations, particularly for non-defense priorities.
Committee leadership in both chambers have voiced their intention to quickly move through the appropriations process in an attempt to meet the September 30 deadline. Both the Senate and House committees will hold markups for each of the 12 subcommittee bills over the coming weeks, some of which have already occurred. During these sessions, legislators will have the opportunity to dedicate funding to specific programs and activities.
Nessle & Blakey, Ltd. is a public affairs and
communications consulting firm based in
Washington, DC.
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