Lawmakers are not due back in Washington to vote until September 9, but already next month is shaping up to be a frenzied effort to make progress on FY20 appropriations legislation before the new fiscal year begins on October 1. To date, Congress has not enacted any of the 12 necessary FY20 spending bills, so regardless of what progress may be made in September it is highly likely that some form of stopgap appropriations extension will be necessary to avoid a government shutdown.
Prior to departing Washington for the August recess, congressional leaders and the White House agreed on a budget framework that establishes topline discretionary spending levels for the coming fiscal year. With that framework in place, congressional appropriators will be able to draft the various spending bills – including the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies bill, which funds EPA – with knowledge of how much money will be available. The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to hit the ground running during the week of September 9, potentially holding multiple subcommittee markups of individual spending bills. It is unclear whether the full Senate will hold floor votes on any of the measures, or if after committee approval they will be used to negotiate final spending bills with senators’ counterparts in the House of Representatives.
The bicameral budget deal provides a $622 billion nondefense discretionary budget limit for FY20, a $17 billion boost over the FY19 limit. While this increase does not necessarily translate to higher funding for EPA or any other particular budget item, the increase in available dollars should give appropriators the flexibility to increase funding for priority programs they identify.