All articles tagged with #appropriations
Congress allocated $289 million for small-business loans, but the Trump administration has withheld the funds after moving to dismantle the program, leaving Main Street borrowers in limbo amid tariffs and rising costs.
The Senate passed a 90-6 stopgap funding bill to fund federal agencies through Dec. 11 that includes language blocking the White House OMB from finalizing its controversial proposed grantmaking rule. The House must decide whether to adopt the Senate version; the House has produced a clean stopgap without the blocking language. The dispute centers on giving political appointees control over grant funding, with potential lawsuits looming and a crowded path forward as lawmakers weigh the implications for research grants.
The Senate released a bipartisan stopgap to fund federal agencies through Dec. 11 at current levels with a few exceptions, aiming for a quick vote before recess but setting up a fall clash with the House over which version to advance. The measure blocks Trump from finalizing grants by political appointees, bars new funding for immigration enforcement, and omits major military boosts like a Trump-class battleship, reflecting Collins–Murray negotiations. Leaders also press a busy agenda (Russia sanctions, nominations, a cryptocurrency bill, and a college athletics bill) into the recess, while House Republicans grapple with Rep. Miller’s allegations and the Blanche attorney general nomination moves forward after a DOJ deal on the IRS settlement.
The Senate Appropriations Committee’s continuing-resolution bill would push back the planned federal recriminalization of hemp-derived products to December 11 (from November 12) and carve out a carve-out for synthetic cannabinoids, while funding federal agencies through December. Advocates say the delay gives time to push for a regulatory framework instead of an outright ban, though the House has not included similar hemp provisions and both chambers must agree. Separately, lawmakers from both parties are circulating bills to delay or regulate hemp products, with White House officials expressing support for a regulatory approach. President Trump has urged Congress to delay or revise the ban, and CMS is implementing an initiative affecting hemp-CBD products for seniors, as retailers expand hemp-derived beverages and related products.
Senate leaders are negotiating a bipartisan stopgap funding bill to avert a government shutdown, with Democrats pressing to block President Trump’s plan to replace the grant peer-review process with political appointees. Senators Collins and Murkowski have signaled opposition to the administration’s grant-change proposal, while Majority Leader Thune hopes to advance the package soon. The updates also cover related confirmations (CDC and ASPR nominees advancing on party lines), ongoing talks over an IRS audit-immunity settlement tied to Todd Blanche, and other policy skirmishes in Education and the farm bill.
Top Senate appropriators are weighing a Senate-only stopgap with 'anomalies' (exemptions) to keep government funded, while House Republicans move a separate, clean stopgap through Dec. 4. The White House wants some anomalies included; Senate Democrats, led by Patty Murray, are wary of House flaws and are considering their own package with tweaks. The situation sets up a potential clash over funding rules as the fiscal year approaches and the full appropriations process stalls.
The White House has sent Congress a list of funding “anomalies”—specific exceptions it wants included in any stopgap bill before the Sept. 30 shutdown—to boost military health, national security systems, parks operations, and FEMA disaster spending. House Republicans are pressing a clean stopgap through Dec. 4 that excludes these anomalies, while Senate leaders weigh a patch that could incorporate some of them. Beyond funding, lawmakers are also grappling with Iran-war funding, budget reconciliation prospects, and a flurry of intra‑party and cross‑chamber negotiations as summer recess approaches.
The Pentagon is lobbying Congress for a fast, multi-billion-dollar funding package to sustain the war in Iran, but after closed-door briefings lawmakers from both parties remained unconvinced and asked for specifics and offsets, as House leaders push a defense bill and Senate negotiators weigh larger Pentagon needs and related policy provisions.
Senate Republicans are skeptical of Speaker Mike Johnson’s $95 billion budget blueprint and the proposed summer budget-resolution timeline, warning that the plan will face hurdles in the Senate. Defense hawks want more military funding, agriculture allies seek more farm aid, and the framework includes no offsets, meaning Senate committees would need to set higher funding ceilings and offsets for a final package. Johnson’s pattern of speaking for the Senate has frustrated Senate leaders, and many GOP lawmakers prefer a normal appropriations process over another reconciliation bill, wary of potential poison-pill amendments.
Two Supreme Court justices, Amy Coney Barrett and Elena Kagan, will testify on Capitol Hill on July 14 before House and Senate appropriations panels about the court’s fiscal 2027 budget request, including a security funding boost, with lawmakers seeking detailed information on how funds will be used. The article also covers Maine politics, where pressure mounts for Graham Platner to withdraw amid new allegations and a scramble to find a replacement as Democrats race to unseat Sen. Susan Collins.
House Republicans, led by Speaker Mike Johnson, are racing to pass fiscal 2027 appropriations, the defense policy bill, and a kids online safety measure before the July 4 recess, but a faction of hard-liners threatens procedural delays to push concessions on the SAVE America Act and other demands, with disputes spilling into Israel aid, a rewritten war-powers resolution, and Senate nominations.
Lawmakers unveiled a revised FY2027 New Jersey budget of $60.743 billion, only $15 million above Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s proposal, aided by stronger-than-expected tax collections that lift the year-end surplus to about $6.49 billion. The plan preserves a large opening balance and funds hundreds of targeted programs and local grants—spanning mental health, housing, re-entry initiatives, food security, and more—while making department-level increases (DCA, State, Children and Families, Health, Transportation) and offsetting reductions in Human Services and Education. Revenue gains from income, business, and insurance taxes counterbalance slower sales tax and investment earnings.”,
The administration asks Congress for $87.6 billion in emergency funding, largely to back the Iran war, with $67 billion to the Defense Department (including munitions and operational costs) and $11.1 billion to farmers, plus $1.4 billion for Ebola response in Central Africa; lawmakers will review and may reshape the package as negotiations proceed.
Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell will not vote this week while he recovers from hospitalization, delaying planned Senate Appropriations markups and signaling a two-week recess; meanwhile the bipartisan 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act passed the Senate 85-5 and moves to the House for final passage, highlighting ongoing cross-chamber negotiations amid broader budget discussions.
House Republicans are seeking to bar TSA’s new $45 fee for travelers without REAL IDs in the FY2027 Homeland Security appropriations bill, arguing the agency lacks statutory authority and calling for a congressional briefing on the ConfirmID program; the measure accompanies budget tweaks aimed at expanding private screening and cutting certain TSA costs as part of a broader appropriations agenda.