The Senate passed the bipartisan budget deal this week by a vote of 67-28. Five Democrats and 23 Republicans voted against the measure. The President signed the bill this morning. The deal sets an overall funding level of $1.37T for FY20 and suspends the debt limit through July 31, 2021. This deal officially ends the budget caps and threat of sequestration imposed by the 2011 Budget Control Act.
| FY18 | FY19 | BCA FY20 Budget Caps | FY20 Budget Deal | BCA FY21 Budget Caps | FY21Budget Deal | |
| Defense | $629.000B | $647.0B | $576.156B | $666.5B | $590.160B | $671.5B |
| OCO | $71.939B | $69.0B | $71.5B | $69.0B | ||
| Total Defense | $700.939B | $716.0B | $738.0B | $740.5B | ||
| Non-Defense | $579.000B | $597.000B | $542.096B | $621.5B | $554.559B | $626.5B |
| OCO + Disaster Relief | $125.646B | $23.577B | $8.0B | $8.0B | ||
| Census | $2.5B | |||||
| Total Non-Defense | $704.646B* | $620.577B | $632.0B | $634.5B |
- Includes $103.812B in emergency supplemental disaster relief funding (P.L. 115-72) to respond to Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria.
Senate appropriators can now turn their attention to their FY20 spending bills. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Richard Shelby (R-AL) said that he hopes to finalize the spending allocations for each of his 12 subcommittees by the end of this week or early next week. Shelby is still negotiating with Democrats on those allocations. The allocations will allow the Senators and committee staff to finish drafting their bills during the August recess so that they are ready when Congress returns the week of September 9. The first full committee markup will be on September 12. The first package the Senate marks up could be a three-bill minbus that includes the Defense, Labor HHS Education, and Energy & Water spending bills.
The House has passed 10 of its 12 annual spending bills, but most of them will have to be rewritten to the newly agreed upon overall spending limits. House Democrats had allocated more for nondefense spending and less for defense spending when they marked up their FY20 spending bills earlier this year.
Getting all 12 bills passed, conferenced, and passed again before the end of the fiscal year is unlikely, so a continuing resolution (CR) will be needed to keep the government open. How long that CR will last – a few weeks or several months – is up for debate. And there will be much debate over the controversial Homeland Security spending bill, which could result in a year-long CR for DHS.
FY2020 Appropriations Bills Status
| Subcommittee | House Action | Senate Action |
| Agriculture | Subcommittee: May 23Full Committee: June 4Floor: June 25 | |
| Commerce Justice Science | Subcommittee: May 17Full Committee: May 22Floor: June 25 | |
| Defense | Subcommittee: May 15Full Committee: May 21Floor: June 19 | |
| Energy & Water | Subcommittee: May 15Full Committee: May 21Floor: June 19 | |
| Financial Services | Subcommittee: June 3Full Committee: June 11Floor: June 26 | |
| Homeland Security | Subcommittee: June 5Full Committee: June 11Floor: | |
| Interior Environment | Subcommittee: May 15Full Committee: May 22Floor: June 25 | |
| Labor HHS Education | Subcommittee: April 30Full Committee: May 8Floor: June 19 | |
| Legislative Branch | Subcommittee: May 1Full Committee: May 9Floor: | |
| Military Construction VA | Subcommittee: May 1Full Committee: May 9Floor: June 25 | |
| State Foreign Operations | Subcommittee: May 10Full Committee: May 16Floor: June 19 | |
| Transportation HUD | Subcommittee: May 23Full Committee: June 4 Floor: June 25 |