State of Play: FY 2025 Appropriations for Social Science Research

As Congress returns to Capitol Hill following August recess, appropriators are looking to finalize the budget for fiscal year (FY) 2025 prior to the September 30 deadline. As previously reported by COSSA, the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced 11 of its 12 bills, including the Commerce, Justice Science (CJS) and Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (LHHS) bills (COSSA’s analysis is available here) but did not manage to pass any of the bills on the Senate floor. On the other side of the Capitol, the House Appropriations Committee considered all 12 bills (COSSA’s analysis is available here) and managed to pass 5 of its annual appropriations bills on the House floor, not including the CJS and LHHS bills. As we get closer to the November elections, it becomes less likely that FY 2025 appropriations will be completed on time.

Among the countless unknowns surrounding a possible endgame strategy for appropriations, there is one certainty – the need to pass a stopgap funding measure, known as a continuing resolution (CR), to avoid a government shutdown come October 1. Scenarios range from a CR of a couple of months with final action completed in the December timeframe (forcing a lame duck session of Congress after the November elections), to a six-month-long CR that would delay action until after the new Administration and Congress are sworn in, to possibly a year-long continuing resolution that would fund agencies at the FY 2024 level through the end of next fiscal year. These details will need to be sorted out over the next several weeks, and consensus remains far-off.

Stay tuned to COSSA’s continued coverage on the appropriations process.