President Trump submitted a supplemental request to Congress for fiscal year (FY) 2017 funding. Current FY 2017 funding expires on April 28th.
Congress is scheduled to be in recess the weeks of April 10th and 17th, leaving only five legislative days upon their return before funding expires. Congress must either pass a Continuing Resolution (CR) or pass eleven remaining appropriations bills before this date. Failure to act will cause another government shutdown.
The administration’s FY 2017 supplemental request recommends that Congress reduce non-defense discretionary agency spending by $18 billion for the remainder of FY 2017. At the time of its release, no specific agencies or programs were proposed or targeted for this significant reduction in current agency spending levels. Details of the proposed $18 billion in cuts have now come to light and they include NTEU-represented agencies and programs at EPA, HHS (FDA, HRSA, SAMHSA, ACF), and DOE.
At this time, there is significant bipartisan pushback from both congressional chambers against the administration’s FY 2017 supplemental request and its proposed cuts. Additionally, this spending request would violate the established, overall spending caps for FY 2017 as specified in the Budget Control Act of 2011. Lawmakers in both parties have significant concerns about exceeding the spending caps.
Congress is expected to pass a CR for the remainder of FY 2017, It is not yet known, however, whether the President would sign such funding legislation if it was inconsistent with administration priorities.
The President also recently released his budget blueprint proposal for FY 2018, also known as the "skinny budget." We expect the detailed FY2018 budget with agency-specific program funding details to be released in May.
For more information on the President's budget proposals, please click here.