Senator’s negotiators advance more than US$1 trillion in government funding for 2025

Senate negotiators voted Thursday to advance more than $1 trillion in government funding for fiscal 2025, passing four spending bills with overwhelming bipartisan support.

The powerful Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday approved bills to fund the departments of Defense, Energy, Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, as well as financial services, general government and water development.

The recent approvals bring the committee’s total count to 11, after the committee scrapped plans days ago to hold votes on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) annual appropriations bill for fiscal year 2025.

The defense funding bill is the largest of the group introduced Thursday, allowing more than $850 billion for much of 2025, an increase of more than 3% over the current fiscal year. This includes increases above President Biden’s budget request for the Special Casualty Counsel program, Central Command operations, hypersonic testing infrastructure and research, among a list of other increases.

The committee approved more than $60 billion in funding for the annual energy and water development funding bill, which included what negotiators called a “historic $3.147 billion” for the Port Maintenance Trust Fund, while also increasing funding for the above Bureau of Reclamation. current levels, beyond the Office of Science and for “advanced simulation and computing” at the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Appropriators approved more than $230 billion in core discretionary funding for HHS’s annual spending bill for fiscal year 2025. Agencies seeing increases in the bill, which also covers budgets for the departments of Labor and Education, include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Strategic Preparedness and Response Administration, the Social Security Administration, and some higher education programs.

The annual financial services and general government appropriations bill also includes about $27.9 billion in funding and covers some year-over-year increases for the Treasury Department, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, security grants election, the Small Business Administration and other offices.

Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Thursday that work “continues in earnest on the Homeland Security bill.”

“This bill provides critical resources to protect our borders, support our Coast Guard, and fund important state and local grant programs, including assistance to firefighters,” she said, adding that it also “funds the Secret Service, which, given the recent assassination attempt on President Trump and the changes to the Democratic presidential ticket require more time for consideration and scrutiny.”

His words came a day after Senators Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.), chair and top Republican on the subcommittee that crafts the annual DHS funding bill, wrote a letter to the Director Acting Secret Service Ronald Rowe pressing for information on the agency’s budgetary needs.

“Following the attempted assassination of former President Trump, President Biden announced that Secret Service protection will also be provided to presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr,” they wrote. “Two vice presidential candidates will now also need protection. As a result, the Secret Service is assuming new campaign-related protection costs at a time when it no longer appears to have sufficient resources to fulfill its protection mission.”

However, some senators also suggested there are additional issues that could weigh on the bill, which is generally considered one of the most difficult to pass.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (RW.Va.) told The Hill earlier this week that she finds “some frustration” regarding the amendment process in particular, noting possible votes on immigration-related items that could be raising some concerns on the sidelines. democrat.

This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story