The Senate Appropriations Committee reported out five more FY20 spending bills this week leaving only the Labor HHS Education and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs bills on their “to do” list for when they return the week of October 15. The Commerce Justice Science, Interior-Environment, and Homeland Security bills were marked up in subcommittee on Tuesday, and the Legislative Branch and State Foreign Operations bills were added to the full committee agenda for the Thursday markup. All of the spending bills, except for the Homeland Security bill, were voted on unanimously. The Homeland Security bill passed by a vote of 17 to 14 with all Democrats, except for Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV), voting against the bill.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) is meeting with President Trump this afternoon to discuss the path forward. House and Senate Appropriations staff will meet during the October recess to discuss compromise spending allocations. The House FY20 spending bills were written before the budget agreement was reached in August and will have to be reduced to the agreed upon nondefense spending limit.
Commerce Justice Science
The $70.833B FY20 Commerce Justice Science bill is $6.715B above the FY19 enacted level and $1.1B more than the President’s FY20 budget request.
Bill Text
Report Language
Republican Press Release
Democratic Press Release
Homeland Security
The $70.725B FY20 Homeland Security bill includes $17.352B for Disaster Relief and $190M for Coast Guard Overseas Contingency Operations. After excluding those two amounts, the net discretionary appropriations for DHS is $53.183B which is $3.772B above the FY19 enacted level.
The bill includes the President’s $5B for the border wall system that, in addition to funding construction of the wall, includes funding for towers, sensors, roads, lights, cameras, gates, etc. Senate Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Democrat Jon Tester (D-MT) offered two wall-related amendments during the full committee markup that were defeated. The first amendment struck the $5B for the border wall and reallocated $1.375B of that funding to make investments in non-intrusive inspection (NII) border technology, computed tomography (CT) for TSA screening, FEMA Flood Mapping grants, and a second Polar Security Coast Guard Cutter. The second amendment prevented funds from being diverted from military construction projects to pay for the border wall. Sen. Tester acknowledged that the amendment would be more appropriately offered when the committee considers the FY20 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs bill, but markup of that bill was cancelled earlier this month when a similar amendment was going to be offered and was going to prevail in the markup.
Bill Text
Report Language
Sen. Tester Amendments
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/tester1.pdf
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/tester2.pdf
Republican Press Release
Democratic Press Release
Interior-Environment
The $35.8B FY20 Interior bill is $248M above the FY19 enacted level and $5.46B more than the President’s FY20 budget request. In addition, for the first time, the bill provides $2.25B in a wildfire budget cap adjustment to respond to the increasing incidence of catastrophic wildfires across the country.
Bill Text
Report Language
Republican Press Release
Democratic Press Release
Legislative Branch
The FY20 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill provides $3.593B in discretionary budget authority, excluding items pertaining solely to the House, which total an additional $1.499B. Total funding accommodated in the bill is $5.092B, which is $256M more than the FY19 enacted level and $197M less than the budget request.
Bill Text
Report Language
Republican Press Release
Democratic Press Release
State Foreign Operations
The $55B FY20 State Foreign Operations bill is $782M above the FY19 enacted level and $11.6B more than the President’s FY20 budget request. The bill includes $8B for Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO).
Bill Text
Report Language
Republican Press Release
Democratic Press Release
FY2020 Appropriations Bills Status
| Subcommittee | House Action | Senate Action |
| Agriculture | Subcommittee: May 23Full Committee: June 4Floor: June 25 | Subcommittee: Sept 17Full Committee: Sept 19 |
| Commerce Justice Science | Subcommittee: May 17Full Committee: May 22Floor: June 25 | Subcommittee: Sept 24Full Committee: Sept 26 |
| Defense | Subcommittee: May 15Full Committee: May 21Floor: June 19 | Subcommittee: Sept 10Full Committee: Sept 12 |
| Energy & Water | Subcommittee: May 15Full Committee: May 21Floor: June 19 | Full Committee: Sept 12 |
| Financial Services | Subcommittee: June 3Full Committee: June 11Floor: June 26 | Subcommittee: Sept 17Full Committee: Sept 19 |
| Homeland Security | Subcommittee: June 5Full Committee: June 11Floor: | Subcommittee: Sept 24Full Committee: Sept 26 |
| Interior Environment | Subcommittee: May 15Full Committee: May 22Floor: June 25 | Subcommittee: Sept 24Full Committee: Sept 26 |
| Labor HHS Education | Subcommittee: April 30Full Committee: May 8Floor: June 19 | Released: Sept 18 |
| Legislative Branch | Subcommittee: May 1Full Committee: May 9Floor: | Full Committee: Sept 26 |
| Military Construction VA | Subcommittee: May 1Full Committee: May 9Floor: June 25 | |
| State Foreign Operations | Subcommittee: May 10Full Committee: May 16Floor: June 19 | Full Committee: Sept 26 |
| Transportation HUD | Subcommittee: May 23Full Committee: June 4 Floor: June 25 | Subcommittee: Sept 17Full Committee: Sept 19 |