The president on Jan. 17 signed a catchall spending bill for the remainder of fiscal 2014, after a whirlwind week in which the measure was introduced, debated and voted on by both houses of Congress. This page brings together all of CQ Roll Call's coverage of this omnibus measure, which aggregates the 12 regular appropriations bills. Background information below includes links to versions of the fiscal 2014 bills that moved in the House and Senate last year, when available. There's also a legislative summary of action taken last year in each chamber. Please note that numbers in omnibus-related documents issued by the House and the Senate may differ due to how they account for sequestration.
Coverage of the recent budget deal and the preceding negotiations is available here. Collections of CQ News coverage on the October government shutdown and on last summer's work on fiscal 2014 appropriations are also available. For specialty coverage on budgetary matters, CQ also offers subscriptions to Budget Tracker.
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The sprawling fiscal 2014 package effectively hits the “reset” button for many programs that have seen their funding and guidance frozen for years. It sets regular appropriations for discretionary spending at $1.012 trillion, meeting the cap from the recent budget deal, and includes $98 billion more not subject to the cap, mostly for war spending and disaster relief, for a total of $1.1 trillion.
Lawmakers would give the Agriculture Department, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission $20.9 billion in discretionary funding. That's close to the fiscal 2013 enacted level, pre-sequester, and a compromise between earlier allocations under House and Senate subcommittee reports.
The Commerce and Justice departments and science-related agencies would see a 3 percent funding increase over fiscal 2013 enacted levels, with several law enforcement agencies in line for sizable boosts. The Justice Department would get $27.4 billion, Commerce would receive $8.2 billion and NASA $17.6 billion.
Defense spending makes up roughly half the $1.1 trillion in the entire omnibus. It includes $486.9 billion for the Pentagon’s base budget and another $85.2 billion for operations overseas. That's billions above what the department would have received under sequestration had it been triggered for fiscal 2014.
The portion of the bill that funds the Energy Department, Army Corps of Engineers, Interior Department’s Bureau of Reclamation and other agencies would provide $34 billion — $777 million more than the fiscal 2013 enacted level, excluding sequester reductions and money allocated due to Hurricane Sandy.
The Financial Services section would provide $21.8 billion in discretionary spending, a $603 million increase above the fiscal 2013 enacted level. The IRS, a major flashpoint during appropriations markups over the summer, would receive $11.3 billion, $526 million below the fiscal 2013 enacted level.
The omnibus would give the United States its largest border enforcement force in history, but other areas of the Department of Homeland Security would take funding hits. Overall, the bill would provide $39.3 billion, a reduction of $336 million compared to the fiscal 2013 enacted total.
Appropriators would provide $30.1 billion for the Interior Department, the EPA and related agencies in fiscal 2014, about $231 million more than last year’s enacted level before sequestration, although EPA funding would take a hit. Wildfire management programs would see a significant increase in funding.
Note on below documents: Only draft House and Senate bills were released during 2013.
Selected health programs did relatively well in the largest domestic spending package, while the Education and Labor departments are both slated for budget reductions. The entire Labor-HHS-Education bill included in the omnibus would provide $156.8 billion, about $100 million less than the fiscal 2013 enacted level.
Note on below documents: A House draft bill was not released during 2013.
The largest item in the $4.2 billion Legislative Branch measure is $1.2 billion for House operations, a small decrease from fiscal 2013 enacted levels but $19 billion more than post-sequester funding. The agreement includes $859 million for Senate operations, and $720,000 to enhance oversight of intelligence matters.
The omnibus contains $159.2 billion for military construction, family housing, base closures and veterans’ services, including advance fiscal 2015 appropriations. That means overall fiscal 2014 funding is $158 billion, including $73.3 billion in discretionary funds — $1.4 billion above the enacted fiscal 2013 level.
State-Foreign Operations funds would fall $4.3 billion to $49 billion in fiscal 2014, including war-related spending, while clearing the way for conditional aid to Egypt and leaving out a controversial abortion provision. Overall, the amount is $2.7 billion below Obama’s fiscal 2014 request.
The Transportation-HUD section would provide $50.8 billion in discretionary spending, a cut of $961 million compared with pre-sequester fiscal 2013 levels. Funding for Amtrak would remain roughly level, but a plan for high-speed rail would be zeroed out. FAA funds would be trimmed by $168 million.
As the new calendar year began, appropriators scrambled to put together a final spending package ahead of a Jan. 15 deadline. With time running short and a number of policy items in dispute, they readied a brief stopgap to allow more time to negotiate.