This week is Congress’s last week in session before the beginning of the Memorial Day recess next week. Both chambers are working hard to make this a productive time – there are multiple hearings happening in both the House and Senate and several bills to be introduced this week.

On May 16, 2024, the new House Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) announced what he is calling “interim subcommittee allocations” for the FY 2025 appropriations process, based on the topline agreement included in the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) last year. These subcommittee allocations, known as 302(b) allocations, distribute the total amount of funding for FY2025 across the twelve appropriation subcommittees to create the twelve budget bills.

Final 302(b) allocations are typically voted on after toplines are determined, which is why Chairman Cole is referring to these numbers as “interim.”. Due to the lengthy, drawn out process for the FY 2024 budget, Congress is already behind schedule on FY 2025 appropriations. The federal fiscal year will end on September 30, though it is very unlikely that any real progress on funding will happen before the November election.

The press release lists the following key takeaways:

  • Defense will receive an increase of nearly $9 billion.
  • Homeland Security will be funded above the President’s Budget Request.
  • Veterans Affairs – including veterans’ medical care and benefits – will be fully funded.
  • Non-defense programs will be cut effectively by 6%, and those cuts are not evenly distributed.
  • Some subcommittees, such as Labor-Health and Human Services-Education, Financial Services-General Government, and State-Foreign Operations, will receive significant cuts of 10-11%.
  • Other subcommittees will have smaller non-defense cuts

House Appropriations Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) released a statement on the same day, calling on House Republicans to “to rethink the funding levels they released. Increase nondefense and defense funding levels by at least one percent as agreed to almost a year ago today.” On May 17, Ranking Member DeLauro released a fact sheet, The Tortured Topline Department, calling for “Nothing Less than One Percent” increase in nondefense funding.

During the FY 2024 Appropriations negotiations, House Republicans released and marked up bills below the agreed upon toplines from the FRA; meanwhile, the Senate Democrats and Republicans worked in a bipartisan manner and agreed to add funding beyond the levels of the FRA, rather than make cuts. This year, Senate Republicans have already stated they will not accept the Democrats demands for the same increases for nondefense funding as for defense funding, indicating that the same bipartisanship may not be present in negotiations this year.