Senate Announces Spending Allocations for FY 2014
by Patrick Lester, 6/24/2013
The Senate released allocations for each of the twelve appropriations bills on June 20, dividing up $1.058 trillion in spending for the coming fiscal year.
As can be seen in the table below, the allocations (called "302(b)s") differ substantially from those released last month by the House. Among other differences, the Senate allocations assume sequestration is repealed, while the House allocations do not.
According to a story in Roll Call, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) hopes to have all twelve appropriations bills approved by her committee by the end of August.
The House, meanwhile, appears intent on passing only a handful of bills. Some bills, like the one funding the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, face very significant cuts under the House allocations and may be too difficult to pass. President Obama has already issued veto threats against several House bills because of disagreements on overall spending levels, a move that prompted House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) to accuse the president of threatening a government shutdown.
House and Senate 302(b) Allocations (in $ millions)
| Subcommittee | 2013 Enacted (Before Sequestration) | 2014 Presidential Request | 2014 House 302(b)s | 2014 Senate 302(b)s |
| Agriculture | 20,510 | 19,667 | 19,450 | 20,930 |
| Commerce, Justice, Science | 50,110 | 52,014 | 46,845 | 52,272 |
| Defense | 517,468 | 515,910 | 512,522 | 516,624 |
| Energy and Water | 36,735 | 34,483 | 30,426 | 34,773 |
| Financial Services and Gen. Govt | 21,415 | 23,756 | 16,966 | 23,031 |
| Homeland Security | 39,594 | 39,030 | 38,993 | 39,100 |
| Interior, Environment | 29,767 | 29,973 | 24,278 | 30,100 |
| Labor-HHS-Education | 156,556 | 165,802 | 121,797 | 164,330 |
| Legislative Branch | 4,277 | 4,507 | 4,124 | 4,350 |
| Military Construction-Veterans Affairs | 71,903 | 74,691 | 73,320 | 74,366 |
| State, Foreign Ops | 42,079 | 47,872 | 34,103 | 44,079 |
| Transportation-HUD | 51,698 | 51,605 | 44,100 | 54,045 |
| Subtotal Budget Authority (BA) | 1,042,112 | 1,059,310 | 966,924 | 1,058,000 |
| Designated Disaster Funds (mostly Homeland Sec) | 5,626 | 5,785 | ||
| Overseas Contingency Operations (OCO) | 92,289 | 84,530 | ||
| Program Integrity | 0 | 1,253 | ||
| Total Budget Authority (BA) | 1,064,839 | 1,149,568 |
Source: House and Senate appropriations committees (see links above)
