Appropriations Update – State of Play in Washington
The window to get a spending bill done is narrowing, but there is movement in Congress.
This is the final week in January with the House and Senate both in session. The Senate is expected to be in recess next week, and the House will be in recess the week of January 26th. That means that the window for getting legislation to fund the government to President Trump’s desk is quickly narrowing. On a positive note, we are hearing that there is a strong interest from both parties to avoid another prolonged government shutdown, but there is still a lot of work for Congress to do over the next two and a half weeks.
Last week, the House of Representatives passed with a bipartisan majority a 3 bill “minibus” that included the Interior-Environment, Energy & Water, and Commerce, Justice, & Science (CJS) appropriations bills. The minibus includes several funding wins for key programs that are important to ACEC members, which are highlighted at the end of this email. The Senate held its first procedural vote to proceed to the minibus yesterday evening. We expect that the process to get to final passage will take some time in the Senate, given the procedural hurdles to overcome a filibuster and the potential for amendment votes. Additionally, the Senate will also be debating a resolution on the War Powers Act as it relates to Venezuela this week, which will take up a significant amount of time on the Senate floor.
In the meantime, the House of Representatives is continuing to move forward with additional funding bills and released the text of the National Security & Department of State, and Financial Services & General Government appropriations bills on Sunday night. The House Rules Committee is meeting today to begin the process that will hopefully result in a floor vote later this week. Appropriators had initially hoped to include the Department of Homeland Security funding bill in this tranche; however, they were unable to reach a bipartisan agreement as Democrats sought additional restrictions on ICE funding in the wake of the fatal shooting in Minneapolis.
That leaves three remaining bills that have yet to see movement on the House or Senate floor, the Transportation-HUD (T-HUD), Labor-HHS, and Department of Defense bills. Negotiations are underway to try to move those bills forward, but It’s unclear whether Congress will be able to pass them before the January 30th deadline or if a short-term Continuing Resolution will be needed.
Highlights and key wins in the 3-bill minibus on the Senate Floor this week are:
- $2.76 billion for the Clean Water and Drinking Water State Revolving Funds, rejecting the 90% cut to the program proposed in the President’s Budget. The bill also maintains funding for EPA’s categorical grants that were proposed for elimination.
- $10.44 billion for the Army Corps, an increase of $1.75 billion over FY2025, including $3.473 for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund.
- $589 million for NOAA’s office of Oceanic and Atmospheric Research.
- $3.7 billion for the National Park Service.
- $1.65 billion for the Bureau of Reclamation.
- $3.1 billion for advanced nuclear demonstrations, including SMRs(Small Modular Reactors).
- $25 million for Grid Deployment for efforts to advance improvements to the transmission and distribution systems of the nation’s electric grid.
- $720 million in total resources for Fossil Energy (ie: benefit future technologies like carbon capture & hydrogen)
Summaries and Text of the Interior-Environment, Energy & Water, and CJS bills can be found on the Senate Appropriations Committee website here: https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majority/committee-releases-conferenced-cjs-eandw-and-interior-bills
Summaries of the National Security & Department of State and the Financial Services & General Government bills can be found here: https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/news/majority/committee-releases-conferenced-national-security-department-of-state-and-related-programs-and-financial-services-and-general-government-bills
We’ll keep you informed as the appropriations process moves forward. In the interim, don’t hesitate to reach out to the advocacy team if you have any questions.
