The Senate Appropriations Committee convened to consider its first fiscal year (FY) 2024 bills on June 22, including passing suballocations for each of the 12 spending bills by a party line vote of 15-13. This includes a $40 billion cut to all nondefense discretionary spending below FY 2023 levels, totaling $704 billion for FY 2024 and reflecting the topline spending level agreed upon in the recently enacted Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 (H.R. 3746). The Senate suballocation for the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (Labor-HHS) bill would represent a $12 billion cut below FY 2023 levels, compared to the House’s proposed $60 billion cut [refer to Washington Highlights, June 16].
In the same meeting, Senate appropriators approved the FY 2024 Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies spending bill by a vote of 28-0. The bill did not go through a subcommittee markup and, according to the committee-prepared summary, includes a funding increase over FY 2023 funding levels for VA research ($938 million, +2.5%) as a part of a $121 billion (+2.3 billion, +2%) increase for VA medical care programs.
No dates have been set for consideration of either committee’s FY 2024 Labor-HHS spending bill or floor time for committee-approved bills.