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Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee are planning to limit new spending to fiscal year 2022 levels—a move that could mean cuts to the Education Department and other nondefense agencies, Roll Call reported.
Texas representative Kay Granger, the Republican who chairs the committee, said in a statement that the spending gaps in the recently passed debt ceiling deal were “a ceiling, not a floor.”
“Because of years of out-of-control spending, it has been and will continue to be my priority to pass conservative bills that focus our limited resources on the core responsibilities of the federal government, including national defense, our veterans, and our border,” Granger said in the statement.
The Appropriations Committee will discuss the spending levels for fiscal year 2024 bills at a meeting today. The House and Senate need to pass all 12 appropriations bills before January in order to avoid a forced 1 percent cut to all agencies.
Senate appropriators are planning to write spending bills to the agreed-upon caps, multiple media outlets have reported.
The debt-ceiling deal kept federal spending on domestic programs flat for fiscal year 2024—a decision that has worried higher education advocates and lobbyists.
Roll Call reported that the planned allocations for subcommittees would focus cuts on the nondefense agencies. For the Labor-HHS-Education bill, that could mean a cut of more than $60 billion from the current fiscal year.
Granger is planning to repurpose $115 billion in unspent funds from previously passed bills to offset some of the planned cuts.
“By clawing back $115 billion in unnecessary, partisan programs, we will re-focus government spending consistent with Republican priorities, keeping total spending 1 percent lower than if we were operating under a continuing resolution,” Granger said. “We’ll use the appropriations process in the House to stake out our priorities and reverse the reckless spending of the last two years.”
