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Now that the debt ceiling package was passed, Congress is working on the appropriation bills. Today, the House Appropriations Committee is expected to approve 302(b) funding allocations for all 12 spending measures which sets the top line limit for all discretionary spending under each bill. The committee also released the Energy-Water bill (full text available here; summary available here) and the Defense bill (full text available here; summary available here). Yesterday, the committee approved the FY24 Military Construction-VA spending bill on a party-line vote.

Although the debt ceiling negotiations ended in a “deal”, there is still deep divides over discretionary spending between Democrats and Republicans. House Appropriations Chair Kay Granger (R-TX) internally released 302(b) funding allocations on Monday and CQ reports that the allocations “total $1.471 trillion, or $119 billion less than the spending caps outlined in the debt ceiling package negotiated by McCarthy and President Joe Biden and $131 billion less than the current fiscal year.” House Democrats will continue to fight against these spending cuts. Our office will continue to monitor progress as the appropriations process continues.

Last week, the debt ceiling bill was passed by both the House and the Senate and signed by President Biden on Saturday lifting the debt ceiling until January 2025, narrowly missing the deadline for default on the country’s debt. The agreement caps non-defense spending at FY23 levels and allows for only a 1% increase in FY2025. Now that the caps have been set, appropriators will determine the specific levels of funding for agencies and programs. As always, we will track progress on our appropriations tracker found here.  

Last week, the House Appropriations Committee began the markup process for their FY24 spending bills. The subcommittees met last week and held markups on four bills — Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies; Legislative Branch; Homeland Security; and Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies. The full House Appropriations Committee is expected to hold markups for these four bills on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

On the Senate side, Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee Patty Murray and Vice Chair Susan Collins stated that they plan to begin their markups of their spending bills in June.