While contractors focus on this fiscal year’s fourth quarter, Congress is usually at work on next year’s money. Late spring and summer are when the House and Senate Appropriations Committees typically hold hearings and markups on the regular spending bills for the fiscal year that begins October 1. Following the process does not require a lobbyist. It requires knowing the steps and where to look.
From budget request to allocations
The process starts with the President’s budget request, which the law calls for by the first Monday in February. Under the framework of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, Congress may adopt a budget resolution setting overall spending levels. The total available to the Appropriations Committees is known as the 302(a) allocation, after the section of the law that creates it. Each committee then divides that total among its subcommittees in what are called 302(b) suballocations. When a budget resolution is delayed or never adopted, the chambers use other procedures to set these figures.
Twelve subcommittees, twelve bills
Each Appropriations Committee has twelve subcommittees, and each subcommittee writes one regular bill. Their jurisdictions are organized around groups of agencies, such as Defense; Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; Homeland Security; Commerce, Justice and Science; Energy and Water Development; and Transportation and Housing and Urban Development. Subcommittee names and lines of jurisdiction shift occasionally, so check the committee websites for the current list.
A typical bill moves through a recognizable sequence:
- Subcommittee hearings, where agency leaders testify about their budgets
- Subcommittee markup, where members amend and approve a draft
- Full committee markup, usually accompanied by a written committee report
- Floor consideration in each chamber
- Negotiation to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions
- Enactment, often combined with other bills into a larger package
If the bills are not enacted by October 1, Congress usually passes a continuing resolution to keep agencies operating, which is a separate subject with its own planning implications.
Why the committee reports matter
For contractors, the most useful documents are often the committee reports, not the bill text. Reports explain the committee’s funding decisions program by program and frequently include directive language asking an agency to brief Congress, study an issue or give priority to a particular capability. They do not carry the force of the bill text, but agencies pay close attention to them. A program that receives an increase above the request, or a report paragraph urging faster progress on a mission area, is a signal worth noting in your plans for the coming year.
How to follow along without getting lost
Pick the two or three bills that fund your target agencies and set the rest aside. Read the subcommittee summaries when a markup occurs, then search the committee report for your programs and keywords. Compare the House and Senate figures with the budget request and note where they differ, since the final number usually lands somewhere in between. Bill text and status are available on congress.gov.
None of this predicts exactly what an agency will buy. It does tell you which programs are growing, which are under pressure and what Congress expects of the agencies you serve, which is a solid basis for planning the year that begins in October.