House and Senate Continue to Work on Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriations

July 24, 2023 

The appropriation bills for Fiscal Year 2024 are being finalized, with the House Appropriations Committee passing the FY 2024 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies appropriations bill (Ag/FDA) and the FY 24 Interior/Environment appropriations bill. The Appropriations Subcommittee finished its work on FY 2024 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (Labor/HHS/ED) and is awaiting markup in September. 

The Labor-HHS-ED bill passed by the House subcommittee will cut funding significantly for the HHS, including a $2 billion cut for the CDC. The subcommittee provided only $130 million for CDC’s National Center for Environmental Health (NCEH), almost half what the center received in FY 2023. The Senate Appropriators are anticipated to be more generous to the CDC. 

The full House Appropriations Committee passed the FY 2024 Interior-Environment bill, which will result in deep cuts at the EPA and Interior Department. The House bill reduces EPA’s budget by $4 billion, from $10.135 billion to $6.2 billion. Many programs, including climate change and environmental justice will be eliminated. Clean Air will be reduced by $101 million, and Enforcement by $141 million. 

House Appropriations also passed the FY 2024 Ag/FDA bill in June and is awaiting passage by the full House before going to the Senate. It contains budget cuts but none as severe as seen in the Labor/HHS/ED or Interior/Environment. 

The Senate will need to pass its versions of each of these bills before the House and Senate begin negotiations on the final FY 2024 budget amounts. Negotiations between the House and the Senate on the final bill could result in a Continuing Resolution (CR) that would maintain FY 2023 funding levels into FY 2024. 

Unlike previous budget negotiations, if the two chambers do not agree on budget amounts for all 12 budgets nor agree to a CR, the FY 2024 budget will revert to FY 2023 levels with a 1% decrease to all budgets, including defense. This provides an incentive for both parties in the House and Senate to come to an agreement on the FY 2024 funding levels. 

For more information, contact Government Affairs Director Doug Farquhar.