The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday passed the first wave of fiscal 2025 government budget proposals, authorizing hundreds of billions of dollars in federal spending for much of next year.
The bill lays out annual budget proposals for the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Legislature, which also oversees the operation of the House of Representatives and the Senate.
With both sides making their points, the bill passed unanimously.
The largest chunk of the bill is funding for the Department of Veterans Affairs, military installations and related agencies, with more than $129 billion in non-defense discretionary spending and nearly $210 billion in mandatory spending. The bill also provides nearly $20 billion for military installations and family housing through most of 2025.
Negotiators said the proposed Agriculture and Rural Development budget for fiscal year 2025 would be an $821 million increase over current levels, with more than $27 billion proposed in total spending measures, including increases for the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), rent assistance and agricultural research.
The committee also approved $7 billion in discretionary funding for the Legislature, including increases to the Government Accountability Office, the Congressional Budget Office, the Congressional Research Service and the Library of Congress, but maintained a freeze on lawmakers’ salary increases.
The passage of these bills came the same day that House Republican negotiators celebrated a victory after the Budget Committee reported the last of 12 annual budget bills for fiscal year 2025 this week.
“Once it gets out of committee, we can start talking right now,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said Thursday, joined by the House’s top Republican spending czars.
“Once members of the United States Senate are ready, we can begin the process of sitting down with them and arriving at what will ultimately be a bipartisan product.”
Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said Thursday that the Senate had reached a bipartisan agreement to increase funding beyond the budget caps agreed to last year after the two parties struggled to find compromise on the overall 2025 budget.
“There is no end to the serious funding challenges we face next year,” Murray said. “I join many members of both parties in supporting the idea that a 1% budget increase is enough to get us through this difficult time.” [Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA)] It provides for both non-defense and defense alike, and FY25 is totally inadequate.
“I am pleased that Vice Chairman Collins and I have reached a bipartisan agreement that provides much-needed additional funding for both defense and non-defense programs. The agreement provides an additional $13.5 billion in emergency funding for non-defense programs and $21 billion for defense programs above FRA levels.”
The move means the gap widens between the bills the Senate and House of Representatives will submit to bipartisan talks, likely later this year, as they prepare to hammer out a compromise on the 2025 budget.
The bills reported by the House committees are more partisan in nature than their Senate counterparts, where 60 votes are needed to pass both bills.
Congress now has until the end of fiscal year 2024 in late September.
But lawmakers from both parties have already acknowledged that stopgap measures are needed to ensure the government remains funded after the November election, as lawmakers are running out of time to make progress. The outcome of the election is also expected to affect how the government is funded for fiscal year 2025, as either party could have great influence over the outcome of funding negotiations between the two chambers.
