COSSA Releases Analysis of FY 2023 House Appropriations Bills

Over the last few weeks, the House Appropriations Committee began considering its annual spending bills for fiscal year (FY) 2023, including the bills that fund federal science, research, and data activities. In some cases, the House proposals mirror priorities laid out in the President’s FY 2023 budget request. However, in most cases, funding allocations did not allow House appropriators to include the sizeable increases sought by the Biden Administration. Still, achieving increases in a funding environment that continues to be impacted by a global pandemic is an important feat. 

Lawmakers have just three more weeks of work in July before leaving for the month-long August recess. House leaders are likely to try to schedule votes on as many of the bills as possible before then.

Of course, this is just half the story. The Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to consider any of its annual spending bills. In addition, many of the proposals in the House Democrat’s bills are considered dead on arrival in the highly divided Senate, especially with respect to defense spending levels. The path to completion is anything by straightforward.

However, one thing that could help lawmakers get to a deal on FY 2023 funding before the end of the year is the upcoming retirements of notable Appropriators, who will be looking to secure their legacies through enactment of the FY 2023 spending bills, presumably by the end of calendar year 2022. These dynamics coupled with the upcoming midterm elections will make for an interesting fall and ending to the FY 2023 appropriations process. COSSA will continue to report on these and other developments as the process unfolds. 

Read on for COSSA’s analysis of the House FY 2023 funding bills for federal agencies and programs important to the social and behavioral science research community.