Senate Advances Fiscal Year 2025 Funding Bill

by Mitch Coppes, Federal Government Affairs Manager, Goodwill Industries International

Before adjourning for its month-long August recess, the Senate Appropriations Committee recently voted to advance its Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education appropriations bill. The committee proposes level funding in FY25 for most of the federal workforce programs that help support Goodwill employment and training services, with some targeted increases for apprenticeship and YouthBuild grants. The bill would fund the U.S. Department of Labor at $13.8 billion in FY25, including:

• $2.9 billion for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act youth, adult and dislocated worker state grants, equal to the current FY24 level.
• $405 million for the Senior Community Service Employment Program, the same as the FY24 level.
• $115 million for the Reentry Employment Opportunities grant program, equal to the current funding level.
• $290 million for Registered Apprenticeships, an increase of $5 million over the FY24 level.
• $110 million for YouthBuild, a $5 million increase over the current funding level.
• $65 million for the Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program, equal to the FY24 level.

Sen. Patty Murray (D-WA), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, noted that the bill had been produced with bipartisan support—a contrast to the partisan version of the funding measure passed by the House of Representatives that proposes deep cuts to workforce training, education, and other domestic programs. “By working together, finding common ground, and rejecting dangerous cuts and extreme policy, we have once again produced strong, bipartisan bills that increase support for families, strengthen our national security, invest in our economy and competitiveness, and can actually be signed into law,” said Murray.

The significant differences between the House and Senate on funding levels will complicate efforts to reach agreements on full-year funding bills before the new fiscal year begins on October 1^st. Congress will most likely need to pass a stopgap Continuing Resolution to prevent a government shutdown in the fall.