House Appropriations Committee Releases Subcommittee Allocations and Bill Mark-Up Schedule

Earlier this month, the Chair of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Tom Cole (R-OK), newly appointed in April, released subcommittee allocations and a preliminary schedule for the fiscal year (FY) 2025 budget. The subcommittee allocations were approved on May 23 with a vote of 30-22. While defense would see an increase of nearly $9 billion in funding, the total allocation to the non-defense discretionary funding would see a decrease of approximately 6 percent. This decrease, however, would not be evenly distributed across the twelve bills, with some subcommittees receiving significant cuts, including the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) subcommittee which would receive $194.4 million, a decrease of $7.8 million or 4 percent from FY 2024 levels. Initially, LHHS was expected to receive $184.5 million but, in a substitute amendment, the committee offered LHHS a $2 billion increase that was originally allocated to the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) subcommittee. CJS, after this substitute amendment, would receive $78.3 million, an increase of $11.8 million or 17.7 percent from FY 2024 levels.

The aggressive preliminary schedule for passing the twelve appropriations bills has already begun with the Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Bill as well as the Legislative Branch Bill, both of which have held mark-up hearings as expected. However, these two bills are considered far less contentious than bills such as the LHHS and CJS bills. According to the schedule, the subcommittee mark-up for the CJS bill would take place on June 12, with full-committee mark-ups scheduled for July 9. The LHHS bill would consequently have a subcommittee mark-up on June 27, with full-committee mark-ups scheduled for July 10. It is anticipated that the report language for each bill will be released the day before subcommittee mark-ups are scheduled.

Stay tuned to COSSA’s continued coverage of the FY 2025 budget process.