On the Edge of our Seats! Following President Biden's signing of a minibus appropriations package containing six of the twelve FY24 appropriations bills, appropriators continue to work on finalizing the remaining six bills. As we suspected, the Homeland Security bill is the most difficult as the two sides continue negotiations, but there are also reports of disagreements with UN funding under SFOPS. The current CR expires one week from today.
On Wednesday, the Congressional Budget Office sent a letter to House Budget Committee leaders on how the potential sequestration under the budget caps set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) of 2023 will affect FY24 appropriations. The FRA included two sets of budget caps (sections 102 and 101), which take effect under different circumstances. CBO reported that funding for nondefense programs will not be subject to automatic spending cuts even if Congress doesn't pass its remaining six spending bills by an April 30 deadline. Defense programs could still see a 1% cut in spending, CBO said, which could amount to a reduction of as much as $11 billion. We think this sequester is a strong incentive for Congress to finish up FY24 soon.
Discharge Goes Live: Two discharge petitions for the bipartisan House and Senate foreign aid bills are now live. The most recent count puts the number of signatures at 21 and 177 respectively. It's difficult for a discharge petition to reach the 218 signatures needed to be successful (the last time this happened was in 2015). Regardless, we still think House leadership will become more engaged in foreign aid negotiations once FY24 appropriations are wrapped up.
Speaker Johnson signaled as much during this week's GOP retreat, saying that passing foreign aid is "very much a priority." He also indicated this would be a standalone bill and would not be added onto government funding legislation or any other legislative vehicle. Additionally, he raised the possibility of splitting Ukraine and Israel aid into two separate bills.
Moving on with FY25: Even though it's still not fully complete, FY24 expires in six months! It's time to begin considering FY25. The President's budget was submitted to Congress this week, outlining the administration's priorities ahead of the election. While the President's budget is a blueprint and mostly a messaging opportunity for the administration, it gives appropriators an idea of agency priorities as they begin the process of drafting the FY25 bills.
Appropriations subcommittees have begun budget hearings for FY25, allowing administration officials to testify on their respective requests. This is a prime opportunity for members or senators to weigh in with the administration on issues important to their constituents. We often help clients make connections with their representatives for this reason.
As we've said before, there is never a slow time in the appropriations cycle and engaging early is key. Please get in touch with us with any FY25 requests you may have.
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