Congressional Action on FY2015 Appropriations Measures
Released: 2015-03-09T00:00:00

Introduction

Congress uses an annual appropriations process to provide discretionary spending for federal government agencies. The responsibility for drafting legislation to provide such spending is currently divided among 12 appropriations subcommittees in each chamber, each of which is tasked with reporting a regular appropriations bill to cover all programs under its jurisdiction. The timetable currently associated with this process requires the enactment of these regular appropriations bills prior to the beginning of the fiscal year (October 1). If regular appropriations are not enacted by that deadline, one or more continuing resolutions (CRs) may be enacted to provide funds until all regular appropriations bills are completed or the fiscal year ends. During the fiscal year, supplemental appropriations may also be enacted to provide funds in addition to those in regular appropriations acts or CRs. Amounts provided in these appropriations acts are subject to limits, both procedural and statutory, that are enforced through respective mechanisms such as points of order and sequestration.

The timing and focus of the FY2015 appropriations process was affected at the outset by at least three significant factors. First, the enactment of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 ( P.L. 113-67 ) provided set levels for the FY2015 statutory discretionary spending limits on defense and nondefense spending. It also provided an alternative basis for procedural budget enforcement in the absence of a budget resolution. This agreement was enacted on December 26, 2013, about nine months ahead of the start of FY2015. At about the time of its enactment, some observers asserted that the earliness with which funding levels had been provided could contribute to the enactment of some or all of the FY2015 appropriations bills before the fiscal year began. In addition, in establishing levels for defense and nondefense spending, some observers suggested that the debate over FY2015 appropriations would be focused on the specifics of funding various agencies and programs instead of on overall levels of budgetary resources.

The second and third significant factors that affected the start of the FY2015 appropriations process were the late enactment of FY2014 regular appropriations and the delays in the President's budget submission to Congress. Regular appropriations for FY2014 were not enacted until January 17, 2014, more than three months after the beginning of the fiscal year. The President's budget submission followed about six weeks later, roughly one month after it was due. The bulk of the submission occurred on March 4, with additional details provided the following week. The Overseas Contingency Operations/Global War on Terrorism (OCO/GWOT) portion of the submission was not provided until June 26. In response to these delays, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees conducted hearings on a condensed schedule to allow committee action on the draft appropriations bills to begin during the months of April and May.

None of the FY2015 regular appropriations bills were enacted by the beginning of the fiscal year. In the 113 th Congress, the House Appropriations Committee reported 11 of the 12 regular appropriations bills, and the House passed seven of these. During that same Congress, the Senate Appropriations Committee reported eight of the regular bills. Although one of them received floor consideration, none was passed by the Senate. Consequently, on September 19, 2014, a FY2015 CR ( P.L. 113-164 ) was enacted into law to provide temporary funding through December 11, 2014. Two further extensions of this CR were enacted to provide temporary funding for all 12 regular appropriations bills through December 13 and December 17 ( P.L. 113-202 and P.L. 113-203 , respectively). On December 16, 2014, regular appropriations for 11 out of the 12 regular appropriations bills were enacted as part of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (Divisions A-K of ( P.L. 113-235 ); the FY2015 Consolidated Act). A fourth CR was also enacted in Division L of P.L. 113-235 to extend temporary funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through February 27, 2015.

Action on FY2015 appropriations also occurred in the early part of the 114 th Congress. On February 27, a fifth CR was enacted to further extend temporary funding for DHS through March 6, 2015 ( H.R. 33 ; P.L. 114-3 ). Full year appropriations for the DHS were ultimately signed into law on March 4, 2015 ( H.R. 240 ).

This report provides background and analysis on congressional action related to the FY2015 appropriations process. The first section discusses the status of discretionary budget enforcement for FY2015, including the statutory spending limits and allocations normally associated with the congressional budget resolution. The second section provides information on the consideration and enactment of regular appropriations and an overview of aggregate discretionary spending. The third section discusses the legislative action on FY2015 CRs and associated budget enforcement considerations.

Further information with regard to the FY2015 regular appropriations bills is provided in the various CRS reports that analyze and compare the components of the current House and Senate proposals.

Discretionary Spending Budget Enforcement

The framework for budget enforcement of discretionary spending under the congressional budget process has both statutory and procedural elements. The statutory elements are the discretionary spending limits derived from the Budget Control Act of 2011 (BCA; P.L. 112-25 ). The procedural elements are primarily associated with the budget resolution and limit both total discretionary spending and spending under the jurisdiction of each appropriations subcommittee.

Enforcement of the FY2015 Discretionary Spending Limits

The BCA imposes separate limits on defense and nondefense discretionary spending for each of the fiscal years from FY2012 through FY2021. The defense category includes all discretionary spending under budget function 050 (defense); the nondefense category includes discretionary spending in all other budget functions. Enacted discretionary spending may not exceed these limits , which are enforceable through sequestration. The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) evaluates enacted discretionary spending relative to the spending limits and determines if sequestration is necessary to enforce either or both of them. For FY2015 discretionary spending, the first such evaluation and any necessary enforcement are to occur within 15 calendar days after the 2014 congressional session adjourns sine die. For any FY2015 discretionary spending that becomes law after the session ends, evaluation and any enforcement of the limits are to occur 15 days after enactment.

To achieve additional budgetary savings, the BCA as originally enacted included procedures to lower the amount of the initial spending limits for each of the fiscal years from FY2014 through FY2021. However, the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013 amended the BCA to set the FY2014 and FY2015 limits at specific levels. The limits for FY2015 discretionary spending are $521.272 billion for defense spending and $492.356 billion for nondefense spending.

Enforcement of Discretionary Spending Associated with the Budget Resolution

The procedural elements of budget enforcement generally stem from requirements under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974 (CBA) that are associated with the adoption of an annual budget resolution. Through this CBA process, the Appropriations Committee in each chamber receives a procedural limit on the total amount of discretionary budget authority for the upcoming fiscal year, referred to as a 302(a) allocation. The Appropriations Committee subsequently divides this allocation among its 12 subcommittees, referred to as a 302(b) suballocation. The 302(b) suballocation restricts the amount of budget authority available to each subcommittee for the agencies, projects, and activities under its jurisdiction, effectively acting as a cap on each of the 12 regular appropriations bills. Enforcement of the 302(a) allocation and 302(b) suballocations occurs through points of order.

As of the date of this report, Congress has not adopted a FY2015 budget resolution. The House agreed to a budget resolution ( H.Con.Res. 96 ) on April 10, 2014, and the measure was placed on the Senate calendar the following day. No further action occurred. The Senate did not consider a budget resolution for FY2015.

Both the House and Senate have used an alternative mechanism for FY2015 procedural budget enforcement that was enacted as part of the Bipartisan Budget Act. Section 115 of that act provided the chair of the House Budget Committee the authority to enter a statement into the Congressional Record between April 15, 2014, and May 15, 2014, that included an allocation for the House Appropriations Committee. This allocation was required to be consistent with the FY2015 discretionary spending limits. Section 116 provided similar authority to the Senate Budget Committee chair. Once filed, the allocation would be enforceable as if it had been associated with a budget resolution adopted by Congress. The House statement was filed in the Congressional Record on April 29; the Senate statement was filed on May 5.

Based upon the budget enforcement provided via this alternative mechanism, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees each reported 302(b) suballocations to their subcommittees prior to floor consideration of the FY2015 regular appropriations bills. In the House, interim suballocations were reported on April 29 for two subcommittees—Legislative Branch and Military Construction and Veterans Affairs. These were later superseded by allocations for all 12 subcommittees on May 19. In the Senate, 302(b) suballocations were reported on May 22.

Regular Appropriations

The House and Senate currently provide annual appropriations in 12 regular appropriations bills. Each of these bills may be considered and enacted separately, but it is also possible for two or more of them to be combined into an omnibus vehicle for consideration and enactment. Alternatively, if some of these bills are not enacted, funding for the projects and activities therein may be provided through a full-year CR. None of the FY2015 regular appropriations bills was enacted by the beginning of the fiscal year, October 1, 2014. Final action for 11 out of the 12 regular appropriations bills occurred during the 113 th Congress with the enactment of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act (Divisions A-K of P.L. 113-235 , the FY2015 Consolidated Act) on December 16, 2014. The FY2015 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act was considered and enacted during the first months of the 114 th Congress, on March 4, 2015 ( H.R. 240 ).

House Action (113th Congress)

Committee

Table 1 lists the 12 regular appropriations bills, along with the associated date of subcommittee approval, date reported to the House, and report number. Subcommittee and full committee action on approving and reporting regular appropriations bills occurred over about a 16-week period. In total, 11 regular appropriations bills were approved by subcommittees and reported to the House by the House Appropriations Committee.

The first regular appropriations bills to be approved in subcommittee were the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bill ( H.R. 4486 ) and the Legislative Branch appropriations bill ( H.R. 4487 ), both on April 3, 2014. This was reportedly the earliest that a House appropriations subcommittee had approved a regular appropriations bill in several decades. Those same bills were also the first regular appropriations bills to be reported to the House, which occurred on April 17. In total, three regular appropriations bills were approved by their respective subcommittees during the month of April, four in May, three in June, and one in July. Of these, the House Appropriations Committee reported two in each of April and May, five in June, and the remaining two in July. The final bill reported to the House was the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill ( H.R. 5171 ) on July 23.

Of the 12 regular appropriations bills for FY2015, only one was not reported to the House. The Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Related Agencies appropriations bill was neither approved by the subcommittee nor considered by the full committee.

Floor

Table 2 presents the eight regular appropriations bills that were considered on the House floor during the 113 th Congress, along with the date consideration was initiated, the date consideration was concluded, and the vote on final passage. Such consideration occurred over about an 11-week period.

The first bill to be considered on the House floor was the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bill ( H.R. 4486 ). Consideration was initiated on April 30, and the House passed the bill on the same day by a vote of 416-1. The House considered and passed two bills during the month of May and two in June. A third bill—the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies appropriations bill ( H.R. 4800 )—was considered and amended on the House floor on June 11 without a vote on final passage. The House considered and passed the final two bills in July. The last floor action on initial consideration of individual regular appropriations bills occurred on July 16 with the passage of the Financial Services and General Government appropriations bill by a vote of 228-195.

Status of Statutory Discretionary Budget Enforcement Prior to the Beginning of the Fiscal Year

OMB projected the budgetary levels of the House regular appropriations bills on August 20, 2014. Defense discretionary spending subject to the BCA limits was projected to be about $521.261 billion, which is about $0.11 billion below the defense limit. When defense spending designated under Section 251(b) of the BBEDCA for OCO/GWOT was accounted for, the total amount of defense discretionary spending was projected to be about $579.835 billion. Nondefense discretionary spending subject to the BCA limits was projected to be about $487.724 billion, which is about $4.632 billion below the nondefense limit. When nondefense spending designated as for OCO/GWOT, continuing disability reviews and redeterminations, health care fraud and abuse control, or disaster relief was accounted for, the total amount of nondefense discretionary spending was projected to be about $504.260 billion.

Senate Action (113th Congress)

Committee

Table 3 lists the 12 regular appropriations bills and their associated date of subcommittee approval, date reported to the Senate, and report number. Subcommittee and full committee action on approving and reporting regular appropriations occurred over about an eight-week period. In total, 11 regular appropriations bills were approved by subcommittees and eight were reported to the Senate by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The first regular appropriations bills to be approved by a subcommittee were the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies appropriations bill ( S. 2389 ) and the Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies appropriations bill ( H.R. 4486 ) on May 20, 2014. Both of these bills were reported to the Senate on May 22. In total, two regular appropriations bills were approved by their respective subcommittees in May, eight in June, and one in July. The full committee pattern of reporting to the Senate was similar, with two bills reported in May, five in June, and one in July. The final bill to be approved in subcommittee and reported to the Senate was the Department of Defense appropriations bill ( H.R. 4870 ), on July 17, 2014.

Four of the 12 regular appropriations bills were not reported to the Senate. The Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies; Energy and Water Development; and Financial Services and General Government subcommittees all reported regular appropriations bills to the full committee, but no further action occurred. The Departments of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies appropriations bill was neither approved by the subcommittee nor considered by the full committee.

Floor

The only regular appropriations bill to receive initial floor consideration in the Senate during the 113 th Congress was the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies appropriations bill ( H.R. 4660 ). Prior to the bill being brought to the floor, Senator Mikulski, chairwoman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, indicated her intention to propose an amendment that would add to the bill the texts of two additional regular appropriations bills—Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies; and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. This was to allow initial floor consideration of those appropriations to occur in the same legislative vehicle. On June 12, the motion to proceed was made in the Senate and cloture was filed on that motion. Cloture was invoked on the motion to proceed on June 17 by a vote of 95-3. The motion to proceed was agreed to on June 19 by a voice vote, but no further proceedings occurred after that time.

Status of Statutory Discretionary Budget Enforcement Prior to the Beginning of the Fiscal Year

OMB projected the budgetary levels of the Senate regular appropriations bills on August 20, 2014. Defense discretionary spending subject to the BCA limits was projected to be about $521.306 billion, which is about $0.034 billion in excess of the defense limit. When defense spending designated under Section 251(b) of the BBEDCA for OCO/GWOT was accounted for, the total amount of defense discretionary spending subject to the BCA limits was projected to be about $579.880 billion. Nondefense discretionary spending subject to the BCA limits was projected to be about $488.603 billion, which was about $3.753 billion below the nondefense limit. When nondefense spending designated as for OCO/GWOT, continuing disability reviews and redeterminations, health care fraud and abuse control, or disaster relief was accounted for, the total amount of nondefense discretionary spending was projected to be about $505.139 billion.

The FY2015 Consolidated Act (H.R. 83, P.L. 113-235; Divisions A-K)

On December 9, the House and Senate Appropriations Committee chairs announced an omnibus appropriations package that combined an agreement on 11 of the 12 regular appropriations bills into a single vehicle, referred to in this report as the FY2015 Consolidated Act. Congress did not include annual funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as part of that package. The exclusion of annual appropriations for DHS was, in large part, due to the lack of consensus on how Congress would respond to the Obama Administration's announcement of immigration-related executive action that had occurred the previous month. Some congressional critics of the Administration's proposal suggested that annual appropriations for DHS be used as the vehicle to respond to those actions. Consequently, this omnibus package contained a temporary extension of the DHS funding provided in the first CR for the fiscal year ( H.J.Res. 124 , P.L. 113-164 ) through February 27, 2015.

This omnibus agreement was to be considered as a House amendment to a Senate amendment to an unrelated bill ( H.R. 83 ). After adopting a special rule that provided for the consideration of the amendment ( H.Res. 776 ), the House concurred in the Senate amendment with an amendment by a vote of 219-206 on December 11. On December 13, cloture was invoked in the Senate on the motion to concur in the House amendment by a vote of 77-19. After disposing of a point of order against the motion to concur, the Senate agreed to the motion that same day by a vote of 56-40. The bill was signed into law by the President on December 16, 2014.

Prior to consideration on the House floor, CBO estimated the discretionary appropriations that would be provided through the enactment of H.R. 83 , Divisions A-L. This included the budgetary effects of the 11 annual regular appropriations acts contained in those divisions, as well as the annualized budget authority for the part-year CR for DHS. These are listed in Table 4 below. CBO estimated that appropriations subject to the FY2015 discretionary spending limits would not exceed those levels. When adjustments to the limits were accounted for, total appropriations were projected to be about $1.1 billion.

The FY2015 Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act (H.R. 240, 114th Congress)

Because FY2015 annual appropriations were not enacted for DHS during the 113 th Congress, congressional action related to those appropriations occurred in the first months of the 114 th Congress.

On January 9, Representative Harold Rogers, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, introduced H.R. 240 , the Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act for 2015. On January 13 and 14, the House considered this measure pursuant to a special rule that made in order five amendments to address certain immigration-related executive actions that have occurred over the past few years. After adopting all five amendments, the House passed H.R. 240 by a vote of 236-191.

Over the next six weeks, the Senate unsuccessfully attempted to invoke cloture on the motion to proceed to the measure on five occasions, the last of which occurred on February 25. Ultimately, cloture was invoked later that same day by a vote of 98-2 after a deal was reached to consider an amendment to remove the House language related to executive action ( S.Amdt. 255 ). On February 27, after adopting the amendment to H.R. 240 , the Senate passed the measure by a vote of 68-31.

Action to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of H.R. 240 occurred between February 27 and March 3, 2015. On February 27, the House adopted a motion to disagree to the Senate amendment and request a conference on H.R. 240 by a vote of 228-191. Later that same day, the Senate proceeded to consider the House message, and a motion was made to insist on the Senate amendment, agree to the request for the conference, and authorize the presiding officer to appoint conferees. On March 2, cloture was filed on the motion but failed to achieve the necessary three-fifths vote (47-43). The Senate subsequently tabled the House message by a vote of 58-31. On March 3, the House voted to recede from disagreement and concur in the Senate amendment by a vote of 257-167. The bill was signed into law on March 4, 2015.

Continuing Resolutions

Because none of the FY2015 regular appropriations bills was to be enacted by the beginning of the fiscal year, a CR ( H.J.Res. 124 ; P.L. 113-164 ) was enacted on September 19, 2014. This CR generally extended funding at last year's levels, with a small across-the-board reduction and certain enumerated exceptions, through December 11, 2014. Two additional CRs were enacted to extend temporary funding for all 12 regular appropriations bills through December 13 and December 17 ( P.L. 113-202 and P.L. 113-203 , respectively). A fourth CR was enacted as part of the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act to extend temporary funding for DHS through February 27, 2015 (Division L, H.R. 83 ). On February 27, a fifth CR was enacted to further extend funding through March 3, 2015 ( H.R. 33 ; P.L. 114-3 ), after another CR ( H.J.Res. 35 ) was defeated on the House floor.

H.J.Res. 124 (P.L. 113-164)

The Continuing Appropriations Resolution for FY2015 was introduced by Representative Harold Rogers, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, on September 9, 2014. The following week, on September 16, the House adopted a special rule ( H.Res. 722 ) allowing for the consideration of an amendment that authorized the President to arm and train vetted elements of Syrian opposition groups and that provided for the potential use of funds for those purposes. The next day, after debate on H.J.Res. 124 and the Syria amendment thereto was completed, the House adopted the amendment by a vote of 273-156 and passed the CR by a vote of 319-108. On September 18, the Senate invoked cloture on the CR by a vote of 73-27. It then passed the CR on that same day by a vote of 78-22. The President signed the CR into law on September 19.

According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the annualized budget authority for regular appropriations provided in the CR that is subject to the BCA limits was $1,012.236 billion. When spending designated as for OCO/GWOT, continuing disability reviews and redeterminations, health care fraud abuse control, or disaster relief is included, the total amount of annualized budget authority in the CR was $1,110.678 billion.

CBO also estimated that annualized spending in the CR would exceed one of the two statutory discretionary spending limits. Defense spending in the CR was estimated to total $517.689 billion, which is about $3.583 billion below the defense limit, but nondefense spending was estimated to total $494.547 billion, which was about $2.191 billion above the nondefense limit. However, the BCA limits are first enforced within 15 calendar days after the congressional session adjourns sine die, and the funds in this CR were superseded by the enactment of H.R. 83 prior to that time.

H.J.Res. 130 (P.L. 113-202) and H.J.Res. 131 (P.L. 113-203)

As congressional action was occurring on H.R. 83 to complete the annual appropriations process for 11 out of the 12 regular appropriations bills, it became evident that additional time would be needed. On December 10, 2014, Representative Harold Rogers, chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, introduced H.J.Res. 130 to extend the effectiveness of the first FY2015 CR for two additional days—to December 13, 2014. On December 11, this measure was agreed to in the House without objection and passed the Senate by a voice vote. It was signed into law by the President on December 12, 2014 ( P.L. 113-202 ). That same day, the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee introduced another CR, H.J.Res. 131 , to further extend the effectiveness of the first FY2015 CR through December 17, 2014. The measure passed the House without objection and the Senate by a voice vote. It was signed into law on December 13, 2014 ( P.L. 113-203 ). These temporary appropriations laws were superseded by the enactment of H.R. 83 on December 16, 2014.

H.R. 83, Division L (P.L. 113-235)

As was previously discussed, the omnibus appropriations package that provided annual appropriations for 11 out of the 12 regular appropriations acts also contained an extension of the DHS funding provided in the first CR through February 27, 2015 (Division L of H.R. 83 ). This CR also made a few modifications to the first CR, including the addition of two provisions related to DHS (Section 101 of Division L).

Congressional consideration of H.R. 83 is discussed in the report section entitled " The FY2015 Consolidated Act (H.R. 83, P.L. 113-235; Divisions A-K) ." The measure was enacted on December 16, 2014.

H.J.Res. 35; H.R. 33 (P.L. 114-3)

Congressional negotiations on H.R. 240 and annual funding for DHS had not been completed by the time the temporary funding provided by the fourth CR was scheduled to expire on February 27. Consequently, on February 26, Representative Harold Rogers introduced a measure to provide a further temporary extension of funding for DHS through March 19, 2015 ( H.J.Res. 35 ). On February 27, the House considered the measure pursuant to a special rule ( H.Res. 129 ), but it was defeated by a vote of 203-224.

Later on February 27, the Senate took up an unrelated measure ( H.R. 33 ) and amended it with a one-week extension of DHS funding that expires on March 3, 2015. The measure passed the Senate by a voice vote. The House subsequently suspended the rules and agreed to the Senate amendment by a vote of 357-60. The measure was signed into law by the President that evening ( P.L. 114-3 ). The funding provided therein was superseded by the enactment of annual appropriations for DHS ( H.R. 240 ) on March 4, 2015.