Congress Makes Progress on Appropriations as Fiscal Year Comes to a Close
Fiscal year (FY) 2019 is coming quickly to an end on September 30, and while Congress has made more progress on appropriations than in recent years, much of the government is likely to be funded under a continuing resolution (CR) after October 1. At the time of this writing, 6 bills have been passed by the full House of Representatives and 9 bills have been passed by the Senate. The 9 Senate-passed bills are now in the process of having differences resolved in conference committees with the House. Notably, neither chamber has passed the Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations bill, which is responsible for funding the National Science Foundation (NSF) and the Census Bureau, among other programs.
Congress is likely to pass three multi-bill packages in the coming weeks, containing some combination of the 9 bills in conference, but likely not in time for the beginning of fiscal year 2019. One of the bill packages, a combination of the Republican-must-pass Defense spending bill and the Democratic-wish-list Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies spending bill includes a CR for the remaining unfunded portions of the government to fund them past the midterm elections. On September 13, the conference committee approved this package of bills, which included a $2 billion increase for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) over their FY 2018 appropriation. Read complete COSSA coverage of FY 2019 appropriations here.