When the House and Senate return on November 13 they will have seven of their 12 FY19 appropriations bills to complete work on before the continuing resolution funding these bills expires on December 7. The biggest unknown at this time is how the fight over border wall funding will play out.

The FY19 Homeland Security Appropriations bill was marked up and reported out of the House and Senate appropriations committees earlier this year, but didn’t see floor action. The House bill includes $5B for the southwest border wall while the Senate bill only provides $1.6B for the wall. The President wants a $5B down payment on his proposed wall in FY19. House and Senate appropriators may be working on a compromise that would fall between the $1.6B and $5B.

The outcome of the November 6 midterm elections could have an effect on the lame duck spending negotiations. If Democrats win either or both chambers of Congress, they could push for a spending delay into the new calendar year. But Republican leaders have promised the President that he will get his border wall funding by December. And Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) hasn’t ruled out a partial government shutdown if Congress can’t pass the remaining spending bills.

Earlier this week Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) said that while he is not against the wall, he just hopes “what we do is wise, you know, the way we spend our money.” The Senate will need support from Democrats to pass the spending bills in their chamber.

FY2019 Appropriations Bills Status

Defense, Labor HHS Education

The House on Wednesday passed an $854B spending bill funding the Defense and Labor HHS Education FY19 spending bills while pushing the funding deadline for the remaining seven FY19 spending bills until December 7. The bill passed by a vote of 361-61, a week after the Senate passed it by a vote of 93-7. Five democrats and 56 republicans voted against the measure in the House. The President signed the bill into law today. For the first time in 22 years, five of the 12 annual spending bills became law on time.

Defense and Labor HHS Education Conference Report Text

https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20180910/CRPT-115hrpt952.pdf

Defense and Labor HHS Education Joint Explanatory Statement

https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20180910/Joint%20%20Statement.pdf

Interior-Environment, Financial Services, Agriculture, Transportation HUD

House and Senate negotiators were not able to reach agreement on a four-bill minibus spending package that includes the Interior, Financial Services, Agriculture, and Transportation-HUD FY19 spending bills. Negotiations were held up because of policy disputes over environmental regulations, a pay raise for federal employees, the regulation of meat produced from animal cells, and whether to wall off certain funds from being spent before budget deficits are eliminated. A final agreement will now have to wait until after the House returns November 13. In the meantime, the agencies funded in these four spending bills will be funded through December 7 under the continuing resolution included in the Defense and Labor HHS Education minibus spending bill that was signed into law today.

FY2019 Appropriations Bills Status

The President signed into law the first minibus spending package, H.R. 5895, today while visiting the North Las Vegas Medical Center. The minibus sets funding levels for FY19 for the Energy & Water, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and Legislative Branch spending bills.

Defense, Labor HHS Education

The Senate adopted a conference report for the FY19 Defense and Labor HHS Education spending bills by a vote of 93 to 7. Senators voting against the measure were: Flake (R-AZ), Lee (R-UT), Paul (R-KY), Perdue (R-GA), Sanders (I-VT), Sasse (R-NE), and Toomey (R-PA). While some GOP conservatives have threatened to oppose the bill because of the non-defense spending levels, House leadership is confident the measure will pass with broad bipartisan support.

The $855.1B package also includes a continuing resolution extending current funding levels through December 7 for any federal agencies that don’t get their FY19 appropriations bills passed by October 1 as well as a short-term extension of the Violence Against Women Act and sections of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.

Conference Report Text

https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20180910/CRPT-115hrpt952.pdf

Joint Explanatory Statement

https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20180910/Joint%20%20Statement.pdf

Interior-Environment, Financial Services, Agriculture, Transportation HUD

House and Senate negotiators continue to work on a deal on the $154 billion spending package covering the Interior-Environment, Financial Services, Agriculture, and Transportation-HUD spending bills. When conferees met last week, there were disagreements over policy riders affecting environmental regulations. Two other issues holding up a conference agreement are a $585M “Fund for America’s Kids and Grandkids” and the federal employee pay raise.

FY2019 Appropriations Bills Status

Energy & Water, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, Legislative Branch

The House and Senate passed the $147.5B FY19 Energy & Water, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, Legislative Branch appropriations minibus conference agreement this week and sent the measure to the President for his signature.

The Senate passed the bill on Wednesday by a vote of 92 to 5. The five no votes were from Flake (R-AZ), Gillibrand (D-NY), Markey (D-MA), Paul (R-KY), and Warren (D-MA). The House followed and passed it on Thursday by a vote of 377 to 20 (two Democrats and 18 Republicans voted no). This is the first time in 10 years that Congress managed to pass three spending bills on time.

The spending package provided $98.1B for the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs bill (a 5.8% increase over FY18), $44.6B for the Energy & Water bill (a 3.2% increase over FY18), and $4.8B for the Legislative Branch bill (a 2.1% increase over FY18). It also included an additional $1.25B to cover an immediate funding shortfall for the Veterans Choice Program. The bill did not include any partisan policy riders that had been included in the House versions of the bills.

Conference Report

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Conference%20Report%20to%20accompany%20H.R.%205895.pdf

Joint Explanatory Statement

https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Joint%20Explanatory%20Statement%20H.R.%205895.pdf

Defense, Labor HHS Education

House and Senate negotiators reached a compromise on the two biggest annual spending bills, paving the way for final adoption of the Defense and Labor HHS Education appropriations bills in time for the new fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1.

The $855B conference agreement also includes a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the federal agencies that don’t get their full-year appropriations bills completed on time. The CR would extend current fiscal year funding levels for those agencies through December 7. Conferees hope to avoid a partial federal government shutdown by including the CR in the Defense minibus. The President would have to veto defense spending if he wanted to shutdown he federal government over border wall funding.

Like the Energy & Water, Military Construction-VA, Legislative Branch minibus conference agreement, this package does not include any of the partisan policy riders sought by House Republicans. While House conservatives have threatened to withhold their support for the bill on the floor, House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-WI) is confident that the measure has enough bipartisan support for passage.

The Senate may take up the conference agreement next week. The House would then consider the measure when they return from recess the week of September 24.

Conference Report Text

https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20180910/CRPT-115hrpt952.pdf 

Joint Explanatory Statement

https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20180910/Joint%20%20Statement.pdf

Interior-Environment, Financial Services, Agriculture, Transportation HUD

House and Senate negotiators met this week to conference the final minibus spending package that they hope to pass before the end of this fiscal year. The $154B four-bill package includes the Interior-Environment, Financial Services, Agriculture, and Transportation HUD spending bills. While they had hoped to finalize an agreement this week, negotiators could not reach agreement on several partisan policy riders. Many of these riders are in the Interior-Environment portion of the minibus. Republicans agreed to forgo their riders in the other two minibus spending packages, but had yet to do so in this minibus. Negotiators are still hopeful that they will be able to reach a deal in the coming days.

FY2019 Appropriations Bills Status

The House is scheduled to be in session only seven more days before the fiscal year ends on September 30. The Senate has passed nine of its 12 annual spending bills, while the House has passed six. Their challenge is to craft bills that can get the Democratic support they need to pass the Senate while not losing too many conservatives in the House. The House and Senate have both said they are prepared to bring three minibus packages to the floor this month. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said the three minibus packages would be brought to the floor separate from the continuing resolution.

Energy & Water, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, Legislative Branch

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) wants to pass the Energy & Water, Military Construction-VA, and Legislative Branch appropriations conference report minibus spending package this month. Conferees worked this week to resolve disputes over several policy riders. An agreement is imminent according to conferees, and the measure may be on the House floor next week. The Military Construction-VA and Legislative Branch sections of the minibus were locked down earlier this week. Conferees are negotiating some final technical details and resolving some lingering disputes for the Energy & Water portion of the bill. The conference report could be released as late as Sunday and still meet the 72-hour requirement in the House to have it on the floor by Wednesday when the House reconvenes after a brief break for Rosh Hashana.

Defense, Labor HHS Education

The House approved by voice vote a motion to go to conference with the Senate on the $675B defense appropriations bill. The House named 13 conferees for the spending package, including the chairs and ranking members of the full committee, Defense Subcommittee, and Labor HHS Education Subcommittee – Reps. Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Granger (R-TX), Cole (R-OK), Calvert (R-CA), Womack (R-AR), Aderholt (R-AL), Rogers (R-KY), Roby, (R-AL), Lowey (D-NY), Visclosky (D-IN), DeLauro (D-CT), Roybal-Allard (D-CA), and McCollum (D-MN). The Senate also appointed the chairs and ranking members: Shelby (R-AL), Blunt (R-MO), Graham (R-SC), Moran (R-KS), Durbin (D-IL), Murray (D-WA), and Leahy (D-VT).

House Republicans would like to pass the Defense spending bill before the new fiscal year, but it was combined with the Labor HHS Education bill in the Senate. Senators on both sides of the aisle want to keep the two bills together. The House Labor HHS Education bill has numerous controversial policy riders, which is why it hasn’t been brought to the House floor yet. House Labor HHS Education Appropriations subcommittee ranking member Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) said her Republican counterparts had conceded to a $2B increase for the Labor HHS Education bill, which would align the House bill more closely with the Senate bill. Conservatives in the House may oppose this funding increase.

Conferees met on Thursday and are expected to report any remaining open issues to the full committee today. House Defense Appropriations subcommittee Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-TX) said that the conference could be wrapped up this week.

Interior Environment, Financial Services, Agriculture, Transportation HUD

The House minibus includes the Interior Environment and Financial Services bills, while the Senate minibus also included the Agriculture and Transportation HUD spending bills. The House has not considered the Agriculture and Transportation HUD spending bills on the floor. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) said that they are still hoping to complete work on this minibus appropriations package. The House appointed the following conferees: Frelinghuysen (R-NJ), Aderholt (R-AL), Simpson (R-ID), Cole (R-OK), Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Graves (R-GA), Young (R-IA), Rutherford (R-FL), Lowey (D-NY), Price (D-NC), Bishop (D-GA), McCollum (D-MN), Quigley (D-IL), and Pingree (D-ME). The Senate appointed the following conferees: Murkowski (R-AK), Collins (R-ME), Lankford (R-OK), Hoeven (R-ND), Shelby (R-AL), Hyde-Smith (R-MS), Udall (D-NM), Reed (D-RI), Coons (D-DE), Merkley (D-OR), and Leahy (D-VT). Conferees met this week and, while the meeting was considered productive, they reported that they have several big issues to work out.House Transportation HUD Appropriations subcommittee chairman Diaz-Balart (R-FL) said yesterday that he is not sure the THUD bill is going to be part of the package that becomes law.

Continuing Resolution

The remaining spending bills not conferenced and passed would require a continuing resolution (CR) to fund them beginning October 1. A CR extends appropriations at current funding levels without allowing for new programs or major shifts in priorities. The CR could last through Thanksgiving or Christmas, or potentially extend into January 2019 and the new Congress.

Shutdown

Congress’ main goal this month is to avoid a shutdown. House and Senate leadership and the Vice President have been lobbying the President to postpone a shutdown fight over funding for his border wall until after the election. While some White House insiders are confident the President will sign spending bills to keep the government open, there are some immigration hardliners advising him to fight the border wall issue now while Republicans still control the House.

Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney told the Republican Study Committee earlier this week that the President doesn’t want a shutdown in October. Republican members in the meeting left with the understanding that the border wall fight will likely wait until after the midterm elections in November. However, after Republican leaders met with the President on Wednesday afternoon the President told reporters that he is still open to shutting down the federal government, “If it’s about border security, I’m willing to do anything.” And today the President said, “I would do it [shutdown] because I think it’s a great political issue.”

In related border wall news, House Armed Services Committee and House Appropriations Committee Ranking Democrats sent a letter to Defense Secretary Mattis this week in which they urge him to oppose a request by the Department of Homeland Security to divert $450M in defense funding toward border infrastructure along the Barry M. Goldwater Range in Arizona.

https://democrats-armedservices.house.gov/_cache/files/c/9/c9c33929-eb73-493a-8aad-bed677d76698/57F918A410026BC3586DF7C5BDA95E1F.letter-to-secdef-on-border-wall.pdf

FY2019 Appropriations Bills Status

The Senate has passed nine of its 12 annual FY19 spending bills in four minibus appropriations packages while the House has passed just six of its bills in two minibus appropriations packages and one (Defense) bill. When members of Congress return next week they have 11 days to complete action on the FY19 spending bills before the end of the fiscal year.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said that conference approval of the Energy & Water, Legislative Branch, and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs minibus package could come as soon as next week. The Veterans Affairs section of the conference report has been one of the biggest hurdles during the negotiations as funding for a private health care program for veterans would be moved from mandatory spending to discretionary spending (subject to spending caps). This issue may be resolved by adding emergency funding to the package.

McConnell would also like to see conference action on its Defense-Labor HHS Education, Interior-Financial Services, and Agriculture-Transportation/HUD minibus appropriations packages.

In all likelihood, a continuing resolution (CR) will be needed to keep the government open after September 30. And a shutdown is not out of the question as the President has threatened to do this if he does not get the funding he requested for his southwest border wall. In addition to demonstrating to his base his commitment to building a wall, a shutdown could be used as a distraction from the Paul Manafort trial, which is scheduled to begin September 24. If a CR is passed, it could fund the federal government through Thanksgiving or Christmas. And it could be the first of many CRs depending on the outcome of the midterm elections. If the Democrats take control of the House, Republicans may want to lock in current spending levels with a CR that lasts through FY19.

The CR could also become a magnet for other expiring authorization measures as floor time will be limited. The Senate will spend much of its floor time on the nomination of Judge Brett Kavanaugh to serve as a justice on the Supreme Court. A farm bill conference report is also supposed to come up. Sen. John Thune (R-SD), Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, said that a multi-year FAA reauthorization (or stopgap authorization) could be added to the CR since its authorization expires on September 30.

FY2019 Appropriations Bills Status

The Senate passed their third “minibus” spending package of the year. The Senate has now passed nine of the 12 annual appropriations bills. The three remaining bills for the Senate to consider on the floor are the Commerce-Justice-Science, Homeland Security, and State Foreign Operations spending bills. The House has reported all of its bills out of committee, but only passed six of them on the House floor. The House still needs to consider the Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Homeland Security, Labor HHS Education, State Foreign Operations, and Transportation HUD spending bills on the floor when it returns from recess after Labor Day. The House could bypass floor action for some of the bills and go directly to conference with the Senate.

With only a few weeks left before the end of the fiscal year, staff are reportedly “pre-conferencing” some of the spending bills despite lack of action in the House. They have begun doing side-by-side comparisons and identifying issues. They need to work out the topline spending levels for each bill as well as the policy riders. Whichever bills are worked out and agreed upon by September 30 could be attached to a continuing resolution (CR) for final passage. The CR will provide stopgap spending for the agencies that don’t have an FY19 bill signed into law before October 1. The CR is likely to fund the government through the November midterm elections. One potential roadblock to a CR is the President. It isn’t clear that the President will sign a CR or any of the FY19 spending bills without a promise of $5B for his border wall.

FY19 Defense and Labor HHS Education Appropriations Bills

The Senate passed their FY19 Defense and Labor HHS Education appropriations minibus yesterday by a vote of 85 to 7. Sens. Crapo (R-ID), Flake (R-AZ), Lee (R-UT), Paul (R-KY), Risch (R-ID), Sanders (I-VT), and Toomey (R-PA) voted no on the measure. This $854B minibus spending package accounts for roughly 60% of the FY19 appropriations spending. This is the first time since 2009 that the Senate has passed a defense spending bill that was not included in an omnibus spending measure. And if it is signed into law before October 1, it would be the first time since 2006 that a defense bill has been enacted before the beginning of the new fiscal year.

FY19 Energy & Water, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill Conference

Senate Energy & Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said this week that he expects the Senate will take up the FY19 Energy & Water, Military Construction-VA, and Legislative Branch appropriations conference report the first week of September. This means that conferees will sign off on a final conference agreement next week. Conferees canceled a formal meeting in July over a disagreement on funding for veterans health care.

FY2019 Appropriations Bills Status

The Senate kicked off debate on the FY19 Defense and Labor HHS Education Appropriations minibus bill this week, and will resume consideration of the measure next week. The two bills combined make up about 63% of total discretionary spending for FY19. The Senate used the House-passed FY19 Defense spending bill (H.R. 6157) as the vehicle for their minibus.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) predicts that the Senate will clear the package by Labor Day, and possibly as early as next Friday. The first two amendment votes are lined up for Monday evening. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has requested that senators limit their amendments so that it doesn’t become a “free-for-all” on policy issues. So far this year, the Senate has been able to avoid partisan policy riders. The Labor HHS portion of this minibus, however, could be a magnet for amendments on abortion restrictions, health care coverage, worker protections, and education policy.

Earlier this week, the White House issued a Statement of Administration Policy (SAP). In addition to disagreeing with the overall funding level for the Labor HHS portion of the bill, the SAP objects to certain funding provisions in the bill such as funding a second Littoral Combat Ship, elimination of launch funding for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, and reductions in funding for the Afghanistan Security Forces Fund, Security Cooperation Fund, the National Background Investigation System, and the Counter-Islamic State of Iraq and Syria Train and Equip Fund.

White House Statement of Administration Policy

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/saphr6157s_20180815.pdf

On a related note, the White House may be considering another rescissions package. It has been reported the OMB Director Mick Mulvaney has already begun moving ahead on the effort.

FY2019 Appropriations Bills Status

The Senate passed its FY19 Agriculture, Interior-Environment, Financial Services, and Transportation HUD minibus spending bill this week by a vote of 92 to 6. Senators voting no on the appropriations minibus were Cruz (R-TX), Johnson (R-WI), Lee (R-UT), Paul (R-KY), Sasse (R-NE), and Toomey (R-PA).

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said that they are sticking with their plan to approve nine of their 12 FY19 spending bills by the end of August. He hopes the House and Senate can conference the nine bills before the end of the fiscal year. The remaining three bills are Commerce-Justice-Science, Homeland Security, and State Foreign Operations.

The Senate will take up another minibus bill when they return the week of August 13. This minibus will include the Defense and Labor HHS Education spending bills. House conservatives are concerned that by combining these two bills they will lose leverage for the fight over border wall funding in the Homeland Security spending bill. And if Democrats win seats in the House of Representatives in the midterm elections, their leverage could be further compromised if the debate over Homeland Security is put off until after the election.

While President Trump has threatened a shutdown over funding for his border wall, Republicans have said that this threat is not a helpful tactic and isn’t likely to happen.

FY2019 Appropriations Bills Status

Funding for Veterans Private Health Care Delays Conference on FY19 Energy & Water, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, Legislative Branch Minibus

Last week, conferees for the FY19 postponed their formal conference negotiations on the minibus package (H.R. 5895) that includes the FY19 Energy & Water, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and Legislative Branch spending bills. Conferees gave different reasons for the postponement. House Republicans said it was due to scheduling conflicts, but Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) said the meeting was scuttled because there is more work to be done on funding for veterans’ health care (i.e. how to pay for a shortfall in the Veterans Choice Program).

Last month, the President signed into law a bill that consolidated the Veterans Choice program with several other existing community care programs. Prior to this consolidation, the Choice program was funded through mandatory spending (outside of the spending caps). After the consolidation, the consolidated programs are now designated as discretionary spending, and therefore subject to the annual budget caps. Since then, appropriators have been trying to figure out how to account for the additional spending needs of the program as the shift came after the FY19 budget caps were agreed upon.

The White House sent a letter to Congress this week cautioning lawmakers against raising the spending caps to accommodate shifts in funding for the Veterans Choice Program. Many Democrats and some Senate Republicans (including Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-AL) are insisting that $1.1B be spent beyond the agreed upon FY19 spending caps. The White House accused Democrats of using veterans funding as a ploy to raise the spending caps and demanded Congress fit the $1.1B additional needed in FY19 within the nondefense spending cap. House Budget Committee Chairman Steve Womack (R-AR) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Michael Enzi (R-WY) sent a letter to Appropriators this week insisting that funding for these programs be kept within the topline $597B nondefense spending cap for FY19.

If the conflict isn’t resolved, it could lead to a stop-gap funding bill (continuing resolution) in September.

House Passed FY19 Interior-Environment and Financial Services Minibus

The House passed the FY19 Interior-Environment and Financial Services appropriations minibus on the House Floor this week by a vote of 217-199. The House has now passed six of its 12 annual spending bills.

Fifteen Republicans and all Democrats voted against the bill. Democrats opposed the package mostly because of Republican policy riders including those that would attempt to roll back environmental regulations. Democrats also voted against the bill because of procedural concerns, noting that the rule governing consideration of the measure allowed only a single hour for general debate on both bills combined. Republicans defended the process stating that it allowed for 87 amendments to be considered.

The White House issued a statement of administration policy expressing support for many of the measure’s provisions, but disagreed with funding levels for specific programs.

White House Statement of Administration Policy

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/saphr6147h_20180718.pdf

House Appropriations Subcommittee Marks Up FY19 Homeland Security Bill

The House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee marked up its $51.4B FY19 spending bill this week. This is an increase of $3.7B above the FY18 enacted level. The Senate FY19 Homeland Security spending bill provides $48.3B in funding, $3.1B less than the House bill. This is a large discrepancy that will have to be resolved in House-Senate conference talks.

The bill included $5B for the President’s proposed border wall more than three times the $1.6B the President requested in his FY19 budget request. The Senate allocated $1.6B for the wall in their bill. The President recently asked the GOP to appropriate $5B. House Appropriators would make the $5B available through FY23. It would provide for over 200 miles of new physical barrier construction.

The full committee will mark up the bill on Wednesday, July 25.

House FY19 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill Text

https://docs.house.gov/meetings/AP/AP15/20180719/108583/BILLS-115-SC-AP-FY2019-HSecurity-HomelandBill.pdf

House FY19 Homeland Security Appropriations Bill Summary

https://appropriations.house.gov/news/documentsingle.aspx?DocumentID=395381

Senate to Consider FY19 Agriculture, Financial Services, Interior-Environment, and Transportation-HUD Minibus Spending Bill Next Week

The Senate is considering taking up the House-passed FY19 Interior-Environment and Financial Services spending package on the floor next week and adding two more bills: Agriculture and Transportation-HUD.

Meanwhile, the White House sent two letters to Senate Appropriators this week outlining their concerns with the FY19 Labor HHS Education and Defense spending bills.

White House Letter to Senate Appropriators re: FY19 Labor HHS Education Bill

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Shelby_LHHS_Letter.pdf

White House Letter to Senate Appropriators re: FY19 Defense Bill

https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Shelby_DOD_Letter_July162018.pdf

FY2019 Appropriations Bills Status