Appropriations Watch: FY 2018

Here is a link to the Appropriations Watch for FY 2020.

Appropriations will be one of several deadlines Congress will face over the coming months, See a list of the upcoming fiscal deadlines here.

Last updated 3/23/2018. Congress has completed action on omnibus appropriations legislation. The House and Senate passed the omnibus bill, and President Trump signed the measure, avoiding a shutdown that would have otherwise occurred if a spending law had not been in place before the end of the day on March 23. The spending bill funds the government for the remainder of the fiscal year – through September 30. 

Congress is expected to complete appropriations work in early 2018. Lawmakers will have to come to an agreement on a spending package or enact another continuing resolution to avoid a shutdown. Appropriations work seemed unlikely to be completed until Democrats and Republicans could agree on a budget deal that sets spending levels for defense and non-defense spending; such a deal was enacted in February. The House had been working off of a total funding level that would significantly increase defense spending and slightly reduce non-defense spending compared to last year, while the Senate had adopted unofficial guidance that has an overall spending level that is the same as FY 2017, but with different allocations within that total. As we did last year, we'll be tracking the bills as they move from committee to the House and Senate floor, and onto the President's desk.

The table below shows the status of each appropriations bill. To learn more about the appropriations process, read our report Appropriations 101.

Sources: House Appropriations Committee, Senate Appropriations Committee, CQ, Congress.gov. Note all dates are in 2017 unless noted otherwise.
*passed as part of the security "minibus," which also included a small portion from Homeland Security.

As we explained in Appropriations 101, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees approve 302(b) spending levels for each subcommittee after the topline 302(a) levels are determined by the Budget Committees. Below is an excerpt (click here to read the full report).

How does Congress determine the total level of appropriations?
Under current law, after the President submits the Administration’s budget proposal to Congress, the House and Senate Budget Committees are each directed to report a budget resolution, which if passed by their respective houses, would then be reconciled in a budget conference (see Q&A: Everything You Need to Know About a Budget Conference). The resulting budget resolution, which is a concurrent resolution and therefore not signed by the President, includes what is known as a 302(a) allocation that sets a total amount of money for the Appropriations Committees to spend. For example, the conferenced budget between the House and Senate set the 302(a) limit for FY 2017 at $1.017 trillion. In the absence of a budget resolution, each chamber may enact a deeming resolution that sets the 302(a) allocation for that chamber. The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015 gave the Chairman of the Budget Committee authority to set the 302(a) allocation for the Appropriations Committee for Fiscal Year 2017 at the statutory discretionary spending cap established by the Bipartisan Budget Act.

In addition, discretionary spending is currently subject to statutory spending caps. The Budget Control Act of 2011 set discretionary caps through 2021, which were modified for 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017 by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, and the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015. Beyond 2017, the statutory caps set by the Budget Control Act are reduced by about $90 billion annually through an enforcement mechanism known as “sequestration” (see Understanding the Sequester) implemented after the failure of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction to produce legislation to reduce the deficit.

How does Congress allocate appropriations?
Once they receive 302(a) allocations, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees set 302(b) allocations to divide total appropriations among 12 subcommittees, each dealing with a different part of the budget. Those subcommittees must then decide how to distribute funds within their 302(b) allocations. These 302(b) allocations are voted on by the respective Appropriations Committees but are not subject to review or vote by the full House or Senate. 

The table below compares actual funding for FY 2017 with the FY 2018 allocations included in the omnibus. 

*In addition to base discretionary appropriations, the measure also includes a total of $78.1 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations spending, $65.2 billion of which is designated for the Department of Defense. Including OCO funds, disaster relief, emergency requirements, and program integrity, the omnibus provides $1.421 trillion in budget authority and $1.309 trillion in outlays.
Sources: Senate Appropriations Committee, House Appropriations Committee, CBO (FY 2017), CBO (FY 2018).

As Congress considers appropriations bills, it is important that lawmakers avoid budget gimmicks and stick to the discretionary funding limits in current law until and unless they can agree on a fiscally responsible plan to amend the caps. If you have any questions about terminology or the appropriations process, please see our report Appropriations 101, and stay tuned to our blog for continuing coverage.