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July 12, 2024 The (mis)appropriations Edition. The House Appropriations Committee has now passed all 12 of its appropriations bills. The picture is not pretty, but most of them face an unclear future. For human needs advocates, the battle over appropriations is mostly a fight over non-defense discretionary spending (NDD), which makes up about one-sixth of the federal budget. That might not seem like much. But it includes programs of vital importance to Americans. Think of housing assistance, child care, public education, nutrition assistance, scientific research, public health, law enforcement, environmental protections, home energy assistance, worker safety, and more. Recently, more than 1,000 groups wrote leaders in Congress. They asked that NDD spending on these important programs not be cut. “Every state and congressional district benefits from NDD investments,” they wrote. “Denying NDD programs the increases needed to keep pace with rising costs and provide effective services is a penny-wise, pound-foolish way to address the challenges facing our country.” Some in the House, in particular, don’t see it that way. They’ve outright cut many vital programs – others, they’ve failed to adequately fund to keep up with inflation. They’ve attached poison pill policy riders they hope will score political points – harming immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ people, and workers, for example. The Senate is beginning its appropriations work with more funding than the House and likely agreements to reject many poison pill riders.
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-$122 billion |
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By September, public K-12 schools in the U.S. will have lost a total of $122 billion in extra funds allocated during the pandemic. This comes as the gap in school achievement has widened between students in rich versus poor school districts as compared to before the pandemic. Students in rich and poor districts both suffered math score losses since 2019, but the richer students made up more of the losses than did the poorer students. Retweet this. |
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-$8.6 billion/ -$4.7 billion |
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The Labor, HHS, and Education spending bill approved by the House Appropriations this week cuts education spending by $8.6 billion below current levels. This includes $4.7 billion in cuts to Title 1 K-12 funding in low-income school districts. Retweet this. |
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7.9%/ $718 |
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The cost of keeping cool this summer is expected to increase an average of 7.9% per household across the U.S. -- from $661 this same time last year to $719 from June through September this year. That’s according to the National Energy Assistance Directors Association and the Center for Energy Poverty and Climate. Retweet this. |
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-$2 billion |
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Congress cut funding for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP) from $6.1 billion in FY 2023 to $4.025 billion in FY 2024 – a cut of $2 billion. The House Appropriations Committee would increase funding only slightly, to $4.04 billion. Retweet this. |
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-$4.4 billion/ 4.3% |
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House Republicans voted in committee this week to cut the Department of Housing and Urban Development by $4.4 billion, or 4.3% from current levels. Cuts include a 60% decrease in funds for new affordable rental and home ownership housing construction. And they include a cut of $600 million, or 7%, for public housing, which would result in tens of thousands of evictions as well as curtailing lead abatement efforts. Retweet this. |
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For the full report, click here.
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