FY24 Appropriations Update

At this point, we understand that all 12 appropriations subcommittees are doing 4-corners negotiations now on program funding levels.  That means that the four corners of each committee—the lead Republican and Democrat for both the House and Senate subcommittee—are negotiating their respective funding decisions. Put another way, this means that House and Senate minority and majority staffs and leaders are involved in the negotiations so that one "pre-conferenced" bill will emerge, negating the need for the House and Senate to pass their own versions and then conference to produce a final bill later. All 12 subcommittees are working on the same deadlines, regardless of whether their funding expires March 1 or March 8, like the Labor-HHS-Education bill does.

Most non-defense discretionary (NDD) programs at risk of a cut - The outlook for education funding is tough. There are some programs within NDD with funding needs that have increased by about $20 billion, while at the same time overall funding is frozen, meaning there will be a $20 billion-ish cut spread across NDD programs. The general feedback from those involved is that there are not likely to be many funding increases for education programs, and any increases are likely to be small.