May 22, 2024: How House Republicans’ FY2025 Proposal Measures Up
Last week, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK) announced his proposed Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 defense and nondefense funding levels, as well as amounts he’d allocate to each of the 12 annual spending bills. He also announced an aggressive markup schedule: the full Appropriations Committee will consider its first bill this Thursday, May 23, and will send all 12 bills to the House floor by July 10—just 15 legislative days after Thursday’s kickoff markup.
This update puts the House GOP’s funding proposal in context.
House Republicans’ proposal cuts funding under almost every appropriations bill relative to FY2024 (see Table A below). In real dollars, Defense would get the biggest boost while Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education would see the biggest cut. In practical terms, that could mean slashing federal support for students with disabilities, low-income schools, child care, and Head Start; research to fight cancer and other diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH); workplace safety enforcement at the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA); and much more.
Table A: Comparing the House GOP FY2025 Proposal to FY2024 — Bill-by-Bill
Sources: Appropriations Committees Release 2024 Government Funding Legislation (House Appropriations Committee — Democrats); Cole Previews Interim Fiscal Year 2025 Subcommittee Allocations (House Appropriations Committee — Republicans).
House Republicans’ proposed totals for defense and nondefense discretionary spending similarly prioritize military spending above human needs. Relative to the FY2024 funding deal enacted barely two months ago, defense funding would increase by $9 billion, while nondefense funding would suffer a $67 billion cut (see Table B below).
Table B: Comparing the House GOP FY2025 Proposal to FY2024 — Defense vs. Nondefense Discretionary Spending
Sources: MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR OF THE TORTURED TOPLINE DEPARTMENT (House Appropriations Committee — Democrats); Cole Previews Interim Fiscal Year 2025 Subcommittee Allocations (House Appropriations Committee — Republicans).
House Republicans’ funding proposal is also a departure from last year’s Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) agreement to avoid a debt default crisis. As we explained in our January 8 update, that deal encompassed the bill signed into law and a corresponding agreement to add $69 billion to nondefense discretionary spending in FY2024. The House Speaker adhered to that deal as part of his January spending agreement with Senate Majority Leader Schumer, and that $69 billion in additional resources was included in the final FY2024 appropriations package.
Now, House Republicans are backtracking on the FRA agreement. The FRA prescribes a 1 percent boost to defense and nondefense discretionary spending in FY2025 relative to FY2024. The GOP has proposed jettisoning the additional resources they previously agreed to when calculating the 1 percent bump, resulting in a much lower nondefense topline (see Table C below).
Table C: Comparing the House GOP FY2025 Proposal to the FRA Agreement
Sources: MESSAGE FROM THE CHAIR OF THE TORTURED TOPLINE DEPARTMENT (House Appropriations Committee — Democrats); Cole Previews Interim Fiscal Year 2025 Subcommittee Allocations (House Appropriations Committee — Republicans).
As House Appropriations Committee Ranking Member Rosa DeLauro points out in a fact sheet that will delight Swiftie Congress-watchers like yours truly, by turning their backs on the FRA’s full terms, the House GOP “leaves on the table at least $75 billion in investments in American families.” Indeed, Republicans’ proposal aims to bring critical nondefense funding…well, down bad.
However, House Republicans’ proposal is just that: a proposal. The FY2024 funding bill that ultimately became law largely rejected the draconian cuts Republicans similarly proposed last year. At the end of the day, Congress must approve a FY2025 spending package that the Democratically-controlled Senate and White House agree to, too—not just the House GOP. Senate appropriators have yet to announce their proposed topline numbers or markup schedule, so several steps in this process still lie ahead.
We’ll keep you updated as this process unfolds. Folks can find our previous updates and sign up for future ones here. We appreciate your helping spread the word about our Unrig the Rules program to keep stakeholders informed about what’s going on in Congress and what it means.