Legislative Updates

House Passes FY2022 Top-line Budget Allocation, Sets Appropriations Markup Schedule

On June 14, the House voted 216-206 on a “deeming” resolution (H. Res. 467) that establishes a $1.506 trillion top-line discretionary spending limit for Fiscal Year (FY) 2022 funding bills, also known as the “302(a) allocation.” The House resolution does not specify levels for defense and nondefense discretionary funding within the total allocation. This compares to the $1.523 trillion proposed in President Biden’s FY2022 budget request, divided as $770 billion for nondefense and $753 billion for defense spending. With this action, the House Appropriations Subcommittees can now start work on drafting their twelve FY2022 spending bills, with individual Subcommittee allocations (known as the “302(b) allocation”) expected to be considered by the full Appropriations Committee on June 29.

Additionally, House Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) released the markup schedule for all twelve FY2022 spending bills. The Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) spending bill, with funding jurisdiction over the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Eye Institute (NEI), is scheduled for Subcommittee markup on July 12, followed by full Appropriations Committee consideration on July 15.

The path forward in the Senate is currently unclear. Democratic leaders have indicated that, although the Senate has yet to adopt a top-line 302(a) allocation, discussions are proceeding and that they hope to begin marking up appropriations bills in July. However, Republican leaders have indicated that appropriations would not move forward without a bipartisan agreement on top-line spending and that Congress should plan on multiple Continuing Resolutions to fund the government in FY2022 when FY2021 ends on September 30.