Diving Into the Federal Spending Legislation Landscape

Our General Manager of Strategic Growth, Tris Carpenter, has assembled an update on Federal spending legislation churning its way through Congress. Congressional leaders are (hopefully) reaching a bipartisan deal this week on a $1.5 trillion spending measure to finance Federal agencies for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2022. Included within this measure will likely be $13.6 billion in emergency aid for Ukraine and $15.6 billion in spending for vaccines, testing, and treatments for COVID-19. In addition, we share an update on the FY 2023 budget request process and the President’s four-point economic rescue plan.

Here are some fast facts on everything you need to know about the current Federal spending legislation landscape:

FY 2022 Budget Appropriations

• More than five months into this fiscal year, and the White House is still waiting for Congress to pass a FY 2022 budget
• Congress has previously passed three stopgap bills to further keep funding at existing FY 2021 levels since October 1st
• Washington now faces a Friday, March 11th deadline to fund federal agencies and avoid a government shutdown
• Stopgap measures lead to constant stop-and-start contract cycles; creating inefficiency and disruption for individual Federal contractors which rely upon steady, dependable federal funding
• Agreement will need to address diminishing agency purchasing power and rising Federal contractor costs as inflation increases

Pandemic and Ukraine Aid Package

• Congress is debating ~$13.6 billion in emergency humanitarian, military, and economic assistance for Ukraine; including ~$6.7 billion to cover deployment of U.S. troops to NATO countries, increase intelligence and cybersecurity support, and replenish the supply of military weapons
• Emergency aid would also include ~$15 billion in spending for additional vaccines, oral antivirals and monoclonal antibodies, testing, as part of the new coronavirus response strategy
• Attempting to append both measures in a catchall $1.5 trillion spending measure to finance Federal agencies for the remainder of Fiscal Year 2022

FY 2023 Budget Appropriations

• With the State of the Union address, the annual President’s budget request formulation for FY 2023 has started this month
• Expected to ask Congress for a $770+ billion defense budget for FY 2023 as the Pentagon seeks to modernize the military
• White House has not said when the President will send the FY 2023 spending proposal to Congress, however it will likely be mid-April at the earliest

Build Back Better (Reconciliation Bill)

• House passed a scaled-down $1.75+ trillion bill (CBO appraised at $2.3 trillion) and sent to the Senate on November 19th; however, it was rejected by a key Democratic senator
• President has shifted from the Build Back Better bill to a four-point economic rescue plan; calling for reforms on housing, education, and climate; includes moving goods cheaper and faster; reducing everyday costs; promoting competition; and eliminating barriers to jobs