Members of Congress have recently returned to Washington DC following their six-week August recess. As they head back to Capitol Hill, passing legislation to fund the federal government before the fiscal year ends on September 30 will be the highest priority. Here is a recap on where leaders on Capitol Hill are in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 Appropriations process.

 

Just one day before recess and in a bipartisan manner, the Senate released the bill text and report for its Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) bill after passing the measure on a 26-2 vote in committee. The recent debt ceiling agreement, which requires cuts and spending caps led to a significant 22% topline funding cut. The proposal included $160 million for the Data Modernization Initiative (DMI), which is $15 million less than FY2023. The report notes that $15 million will be shifted to CDC’s Ready Response Enterprise Data Integration (RREDI) Platform.

 

 Below you’ll find topline agency numbers from the Senate proposal as they compare to current funding levels for FY 2023:

 

 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

 Epidemiology and Laboratory Capacity (ELC)

 DMI / Public Health Data Modernization

 Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics

Meanwhile, on the House side, the Labor-HHS Subcommittee released its bill, which stalled before it reached a full Committee markup, preventing the Committee from releasing the report to the public. Without the report, we do not know the House’s full recommendations for CDC programs, however based on numbers provided by the Committee’s press statements, we anticipate large-scale proposed cuts. For example, the minority press release stated the DMI line would be funded at $75 million. With the House and Senate far apart on funding levels, it will be difficult for them to reach an agreement in the coming weeks. 

  

We don’t have to look into a crystal ball to see that Congress is unlikely to complete its work on appropriations bills by the deadline. Leaders on Capitol Hill are calling for a continuing resolution (CR) to allow themselves more time to come to consensus, however, agreement on a CR could prove difficult. The House Freedom Caucus continues to push for deeper spending cuts and recently made a list of demands, including additional funding for border security, that must be met before they will agree to a CR. However, this could prove to be difficult as the Caucus is fighting for far-right bills that would not make it through the Senate. Both Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Minority Leader Mitch McConnell have publicly said a temporary fix will be essential to avoid a shutdown as Congress takes more time to hash out the remaining spending bills.

  

To avoid a government shutdown, the House and Senate need to address the deep divide between their respective spending proposals. As Congress debates, we will continue to follow the appropriations process and share timely updates.

 

 Victoria Barahona is a policy associate at CRD Associates, LLC, which represents CSTE’s interests on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC.