What to Watch for (and Beware) As Appropriations Bills Move Forward

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File photo of the U.S. Capitol building. Photo: Michael Reynolds/European Pressphoto Agency

Maya MacGuineas is president of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. She is on Twitter: @MayaMacGuineas.

That Congress is proceeding with appropriations bills without a budget resolution, the measure intended to establish discipline for spending decisions, is yet another example of how broken the budget process is.

Congress has not passed all 12 appropriations bills on time since 1994. So it is encouraging that House Speaker Paul Ryan and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell have made passing regular appropriations bills a priority this year. Still, several obstacles remain to keeping the process moving.

Appropriations bills will be governed by the overall discretionary spending cap of $1.070 trillion, an amount adopted in last year’s Bipartisan Budget Act. That sum is a point of contention for some House conservatives, who wanted the total spending limit set at $1.040 trillion, the level under sequestration. This could lead to more friction as the appropriations process goes on.

On the Senate side, consideration of the chamber’s first appropriations bill, overseeing energy and water, was temporarily bogged down over a controversial amendment related to the Iran nuclear deal. The amendment was eventually withdrawn and the bill passed, but the conflict could be a preview of fights on other controversial policy riders that could lengthen and slow the process.

Other things to watch for include attempts to rely on budget gimmicks, such as using the Overseas Contingency Operations account to circumvent defense spending limits in hopes that a future supplemental appropriations bill would cover the difference. Already, some in the House have taken steps to do this.

The House Armed Services Committee’s defense authorization would funnel $23 billion of war funds through the contingency account to the Pentagon for basic expenses. That’s $18 billion more than the president’s $5 billion request for basic defense spending. Because the overseas contingency funds are not subject to discretionary spending caps, House Republicans are effectively bypassing defense spending limits–and not identifying offsets.

The House bill purports to free up room within the overseas contingencies account by only funding war expenses for the first seven months of the fiscal year. This simply sets up the need for an emergency supplemental spending bill next year–and that could become a vehicle for other spending not subject to regular limits.

While it is encouraging to see lawmakers consider appropriations bills on schedule, it is important whether those bills include budget gimmicks and whether they follow the discretionary funding limits set in law.

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