FY 2014 Omnibus Delayed. After Congress agreed to topline spending levels for FY 2014 and FY 2015 , Appropriations Committee Members have turned in earnest to crafting individual appropriations bills to be put into an Omnibus appropriations bill for the remainder of FY 2014. The current Continuing Resolution (CR) will expire on January 15, 2014. Reportedly, Members of Congress have reached agreement on, but not released the text of, six of the twelve appropriations bills and have nearly reached agreement on two more; however, disagreements over policy riders in the other four bills have slowed the process. Among the bills with unresolved policy issues are Interior, Environment and Related Agencies and Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies. Because of these delays, House Appropriations Chairman Rodgers (R-KY) filed a three-day clean CR bill which would push the CR expiration date through January 18 and provide Appropriations Committee Members and their staff additional time to come to an agreement on the other six bills. We now expect to see the text of the Omnibus on either January 12 or 13.
FY 2015 Budget Request Likely to Be Delayed. Reportedly, the President’s FY 2015 Budget Request will be delayed by a month. By statute, the budget request is due to Congress on the first Monday of February but the government shutdown in October of 2013 and delays in completing the FY 2014 Omnibus have delayed the formulation of the President’s FY 2015 Budget Request.
We will continue to follow and report on the FY 2014 and FY 2015 appropriations process. Please let us know if we may provide additional information regarding this matter.
