It’s Appropriations Season!

See the current status of the twelve appropriations bills:

June 8, 2016: Speaker Paul Ryan proposed altering the floor process for appropriations bills.

June 8, 2016: The House Appropriations Committee released the proposed fiscal year 2017 Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Appropriations bill. The bill includes $41.1 billion in discretionary funding for DHS, and $7.3 billion for disaster relief and emergency response activities through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).

June 9, 2016:  The $21.7 billion House Financial Services Bill passed committee. Reuter’s described the bill as “slash[ing] funding for the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Internal Revenue Service and other financial regulators.”

The bill includes several policy riders, including:

• Stalling the CFPB’s rule to end the use of forced-arbitration clauses

• Exempting sellers of manufactured housing from Dodd-Frank provisions

• The bill does not include a rider to defund the Labor Department’s recently finalized overtime pay rule.

• It also doesn’t block funding for DOL’s “fiduciary rule” for retirement investment advice.

The 2017 Senate Labor, HHS & Education Appropriations Bill passed committee by a 29-1 vote. It now goes to the Senate Floor. The bill funds the U.S. Department of Labor at $12.04 billion, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services at $76.9 billion, and the U.S. Department of Education at $67.8 billion. It includes “a $2.0 billion increase for medical research by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), $261 million to combat the opioid abuse crisis, and sufficient funding to restore year-round Pell Grant eligibility.”

May 13, 2016: This week, by a vote of 98-0, the Senate passed the first “regular order” Energy and Water Appropriations bill since 2009. Regular Order requires each of the twelve appropriations to pass through committees and then both chambers to appropriate spending for the coming year. In past years, Congress has not been able to get all twelve through the process, resorting instead to “continuing resolutions” (extending spending from previous years) or, as last year, an “Omnibus” (wrapping all the spending bills up into one big one). 

H.R. 2028 Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

It is still highly unlikely that all twelve spending bills will make it through the process in time this year, but the Senate is acting early to do its part. Immediately after passage of the $37.5 billion Energy and Water funding bill, the Senate announced a deal to consider the “THUD” and “MilCon-VA” appropriations bills together, as a substitute amendment to H.R. 2577.

H.R. 2577: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2016

Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD)
The Senate THUD bill provides $56.5 billion to fund the U.S. Department of Transportation, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and related agencies, including:

TRANSPORTATION

• $525 million for TIGER grants (also known as National Infrastructure Investments)
• Highways: $44 billion from the Highway Trust Fund to be spent on the Federal-aid Highways Program, consistent with the recently-enacted FAST Act.  
• Aviation: $16.4 billion for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), including $1 billion for the FAA Next Generation Air Transportation Systems (NextGen).
• Rail: $1.7 billion for the Federal Railroad Administration, including $1.4 billion for Amtrak.
• Transit: $12.3 billion for the Federal Transit Administration, including $9.7 billion for transit formula grants, consistent with the FAST Act.
• Maritime: $485 million for the Maritime Administration, including $275 million for the Maritime Security Program
• Safety: $891 million for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, including additional funding for autonomous vehicle research.

HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT

• Community Planning and Development: $6.7 billion, including:  $3 billion for the Community Development Block Grant formula program; $2.3 billion for Homeless Assistance Grants; $950 million for the HOME program; and $335 million for the Housing Opportunities for Persons with AIDS program.   
• Youth Homelessness: $20 million to support over 2,500 new family unification vouchers to prevent youth from becoming homeless after exiting foster care.  $40 million to test comprehensive efforts to end youth homelessness in urban and rural areas.  
• Section 8 and Public Housing: $27.9 billion for Public and Indian Housing
• Housing Assistance: $505 million for Housing for the Elderly, $154 million for Housing for Persons with Disabilities

THUD  appropriations could also include Zika funding.

Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (MilCon-VA)
The Senate MilCon-VA bill provides $83 billion to fund the Department of Veterans Affairs, construction projects across all branches of the military, and related agencies, including:

MILITARY CONSTRUCTION:

• Construction: $7.93 billion for military construction projects
• Missile Defense: $155 million to fully fund the first phase construction of the Long Range Discrimination Radar in Clear, Alaska.
• European Reassurance Initiative: $114 million for construction projects in support of U.S. allies through the European Reassurance Initiative.
• Military Family Housing: $1.3 billion for construction, operation and maintenance of housing for nearly 1.4 million military families currently served by the program.
• Military Medical Facilities: $350 million for military medical facilities.  
• Department of Defense (DoD) Education Facilities: $272 million for four military school facilities
• Guard and Reserve:  $673 million to support construction needs
• NATO Security Investment Program (NSIP): – $178 million for infrastructure necessary for wartime, crisis, and peace support and deterrence operations, and training requirements, including responses to the challenges posed by Russia and risks and threats emanating from the Middle East and North Africa.

VETERANS AFFAIRS
The bill contains $177.4 billion in both discretionary and mandatory funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, an increase of $14.7 billion above the FY2016 level.  

• VA Medical Care: $65 billion, including: 

   

   

  • $7.2 billion for the new Medical Community Care account to provide non-VA care;
  • $1.5 billion for the treatment of Hepatitis C; 
  • $675 million for medical and prosthetic research; 
  • $535 million for health care specifically for women veterans; 
  • $5.7 billion to care for Iraq and Afghanistan veterans;
  • $284 million for traumatic brain injury treatment; 
  • $735 million for the Caregivers Program;
  • $250 million for rural health initiatives.
• VA Electronic Health Record: $260 million for continued modernization of the VA electronic health record system. 
• Disability Claims Processing: $180 million for the paperless claims processing system,
• Construction: $900 million for VA hospitals, projects to improve access to VA health care, and the VA’s National Cemeteries.
• VA Mandatory Funding: $103.9 billion in advance funding for veterans’ mandatory benefits, including: disability compensation programs, education benefits, guaranteed home loans, vocational rehabilitation and employment training
• Advance Appropriations: – $66.4 billion in advance funding for veterans’ medical programs to support VA medical services, medical community care, medical support and compliance, and medical facilities.

The legislation also includes $241.1 million in funding for:

• American Battle Monuments Commission – $75.1 million
• US Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims – $30.9 million
• Arlington National Cemetery – $70.8 million
• Armed Forces Retirement Home – $64.3 million