The House Appropriations Committee announced that they will be marking up three FY 2017 bills next week. The subcommittees for Agriculture and Energy & Water will consider their respective bills and the full committee will consider the FY 2017 Military Construction-VA bill. The committee had released a draft bill of the Military Construction-VA bill prior to Congress’s Easter Recess. All three are among the least controversial of the annual appropriations bills.
Additionally, the committee announced plans to consider an “interim report” on sub-allocations of discretionary budget allocations, which likely refers to provisional discretionary spending levels for the 12 appropriations subcommittees known as 302(b)s.
The announcement comes in advance of the House’s return from the Easter break, and when the House returns, there will be a short four legislative days to enact a FY 2017 Budget Resolution.
With House Republicans stymied on a fiscal 2017 budget resolution, the House Rules Committee will consider changes to the appropriations process next week that could be aimed at finding a compromise to the budget conundrum. Those changes could include a measure to allow appropriators to cut mandatory spending. Conservatives are looking for a way to guarantee mandatory spending cuts to offset higher discretionary spending. Regardless, there should be significant Congressional movement next week.