January 14, 2014
Update (as of January 17, 2014): Both chambers of Congress have passed the omnibus spending package (HR 3547) for fiscal 2014, sending the bill to the President for signature. The House passed the measure by a vote of 359-67 on Wednesday, less than 48 hours after the legislation was first unveiled by appropriators. The Senate quickly followed suit, approving the measure by a vote of 72-26 on Thursday evening. The President is expected to sign the bill into law before the current continuing resolution (CR) expires on Saturday, January 18.
On Monday evening, senior appropriators unveiled a $1.012 trillion omnibus spending package for fiscal 2014. At this time, the House is expected to consider and pass the legislation fairly quickly, sending it to the Senate for approval by the end of this week.
In the meantime, Congress is also expected to pass a three-day continuing resolution (CR) by tomorrow to allow lawmakers enough time to consider the omnibus. The House already approved the three-day CR by voice vote earlier today, and the Senate is expected to pass the stopgap measure shortly. The current CR expires tomorrow, January 15; the three-day CR will shift that deadline to Saturday, January 18.
The fiscal 2014 spending legislation released yesterday, nearly 1,600 pages long, contains all 12 new appropriations bills. Compared to fiscal 2013 post-sequestration spending levels, total base discretionary spending would increase 2.6 percent under the omnibus. The percentage change in spending varies among the individual appropriation bills, again compared to post-sequester fiscal 2013 levels, as shown in the table below.
Federal Base Discretionary Spending Levels by Appropriation Bill (in millions)
|
| |
Fiscal 2013 Post-Sequester
|
Fiscal 2014 Omnibus
|
$ Change
|
% Change
|
| Agriculture |
$19,560 |
$20,880 |
$1,320 |
6.7% |
| Commerce |
$47,020
|
$51,600 |
$4,580 |
9.7% |
| Defense |
$486,297 |
$486,851 |
$554 |
0.1% |
| Energy-Water |
$34,263 |
$34,060 |
-$$203 |
-0.6% |
Financial Services
|
$19,874 |
$21,851 |
$1,977 |
9.9%
|
Homeland Security
|
$37,759 |
$39,270 |
$1,511 |
4.0% |
Interior-Enviroment
|
$28,240 |
$30,058 |
$1,818 |
6.4% |
| Labor-HHS-Ed |
$149,640 |
$156,773 |
$7,133 |
4.8% |
| Legislative |
$4,061 |
$4,258 |
$197 |
4.9% |
Mil Construction-VA
|
$70,909
|
$73,299 |
$2,390 |
3.4% |
State-Foreign Operations
|
$40,358 |
$42,481 |
$2,123 |
5.3%
|
| Transportation-HUD |
$48,441 |
$50,856 |
$2,415 |
5.0% |
| Total |
$986,422 |
$1,012,237 |
$25,815 |
2.6% |
More information on the spending legislation, including individual bill summaries and the complete omnibus text, can be found on the House Appropriations Committee and Senate Appropriations Committee websites. Each bill in the omnibus provides fresh spending directives to federal agencies; therefore, individual grant programs of importance to states would be affected in varying ways under the legislation. Federal Funds Information for States (FFIS) today updated their Jim Martin Table, available to the public, to show funding levels for major grant programs provided by the omnibus and how they compare to post-sequester fiscal 2013 levels.
NASBO will provide additional analysis and updates as the legislation moves through Congress in the Washington Report.