Yesterday, by a vote of 220 to 207, the House adopted its first set of appropriations bills for FY2023, which starts October 1. The package, H.R.8294, includes six of the twelve spending measures: Transportation-HUD; Agriculture; Energy and Water; Financial Services; Interior and Environment; and Military Construction/Veterans Affairs. These bills are considered relatively uncontroversial.
Leadership of the House and the Appropriations Committee are currently strategizing on how or whether to move the other bills that have historically served as venues for debates on more controversial issues and provisions, such as those related to abortion and guns.
While all twelve bills have at least gone through the committee process in the House, it appears at this point that the Senate will likely bypass that part of the legislative process altogether. It is expected that the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee Patrick Leahy of Vermont will release the Senate versions of the bills in relatively short order and potentially seek ways to move them without committee action. There still are disagreements between Leahy and Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the committee, on a number of details regarding the FY2023, prompting the chairman to create some movement.