House Preparing to Markup Appropriation Bills

By Laura Walling, Senior Director of Government Relations, Goodwill Industries International

The 2023 fiscal year (FY23) begins on October 1st and Congress needs to pass an appropriations bill or a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown. There are 12 appropriations bills that provide funding for various administrative agencies. House appropriators will markup half of the bills in subcommittee meetings next week. The bills will then move to a full committee markup June 22-30.

Bipartisan, bicameral negotiations on the spending bills recently stalled, prompting House Democrats to move forward with the bills by passing a deeming measure allowing a top-line $1.6 trillion spending level. The lack of agreement on the top-line spending level may put congressional earmarks for FY23 in jeopardy.

The Senate has not indicated if they will accept the House bills; however, they have continued to hold hearings with administration officials regarding their FY23 budget requests. Most recently, the Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee heard from Education Secretary Miguel Cardona.

Majority leaders in the Senate are continuing to discuss a budget reconciliation package that would require support from all Senate Democrats to pass. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) were holdouts to earlier versions of the reconciliation measure. The pared-down version is said to focus on tax, climate and healthcare. Advocates and the administration are pushing for additional provisions to be included. For example, subsidized childcare and increased Medicaid funding for home and community-based care for people with disabilities and seniors.

Goodwill is joining other workforce development advocates to call upon Congress to use the legislation as a vehicle to provide funding to support training, education and supportive services. Stay tuned for continued updates as these measures progress.