Senate Appropriations Committee Approves FY2015 Spending Levels

Today the Senate Appropriations Committee approved 302(b) spending allocations for FY2015 appropriations at the beginning of a markup for the Military Construction-Veterans' Affairs and Agriculture bills. These spending levels determine how much the appropriations subcommittees have to distribute within their respective bills. Chairwoman Mikulski noted that the committee is starting the process a month earlier than last year and she hopes the bills can be considered on the Senate floor in mid-June.

Want to learn more about appropriations? Check our our report: Appropriations 101.

Below is a chart and supporting table comparing House 302(b)s, Senate 302(b)s, and the President's budget.

FY15 Allocations to Appropriations Subcommittees (billions)
Subcommittee
President's Budget House Senate
Agriculture $20.4 $20.9 $20.6
Commerce, Justice, Science $50.2  $51.2  $51.2
Defense $490.7 $491.0  $489.6
Energy and Water Development $33.7 $34.0 $34.2
Financial Services and General Government $22.9 $21.3  $22.5
Homeland Security $38.3 $39.2  $39.0
Interior, Environment $29.5 $30.2  $29.5
Labor, HHS, Education $158.0 $155.7  $156.8
Legislative Branch $4.5 $4.3  $4.3
Military Construction, VA $71.9 $71.5  $71.9
State, Foreign Operations $42.7 $42.4  $39.7
Transportation, HUD $51.0 $52.0  $54.4
Total
$1.014 trillion* $1.014 trillion $1.014 trillion

Source: House Appropriations Committee, Senate Appropriations Committee, CBO.
*This total does not include the $55.4 billion of additional funding requested if legislation increasing statutory caps were adopted referred to as the Opportunity, Security, and Growth Initiative (OSGI) and a placeholder for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO, or war funding) included outside of regular appropriations in the President’s FY2015 budget. The House and Senate allocations do not accommodate OGSI, but will be adjusted for OCO.

We'll be providing a more detailed appropriations update soon. To learn about the appropriations process, read our report: Appropriations 101.