Senate Appropriations Officials Ready to Add Emergency Funding to Spending Bills

Senate Appropriations Committee leaders have tentatively agreed to add $34.5 billion in emergency spending to their fiscal 2025 bills, on top of levels agreed to in last year’s debt limit negotiations, people familiar with the discussions said Monday.

Under the ongoing pact between Senate Appropriations Chairwoman Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, and ranking member Susan Collins, a Maine Republican, defense accounts would receive an additional $21 billion in emergency spending while nondefense programs would receive $13.5 billion.

The deal would pave the way for an increase of nearly $30 billion, or more than 3%, for the Pentagon and other security-related agencies, over enacted levels for fiscal 2024. At the same time, non-defense agencies would receive an increase of about $21 billion, or just under 3% above final spending for this year. That figure could change with various other non-defense “adjustments” once all the bills are drafted.

These figures represent a significant increase over the ceilings set by the debt ceiling law and the associated ancillary agreement authorizing various non-defense increases without technically violating the ceilings. Last year’s agreement authorized 1 percent increases for both defense and non-defense spending.

In contrast, the House’s fiscal 2025 spending bills include a 1 percent increase for defense, consistent with statutory caps. But Republican lawmakers in that chamber ignore most of the adjustments made to the side agreements, resulting in effective cuts to nondefense programs averaging 6 to 7 percent.

Murray confirmed the deal with her Republican counterpart in a statement Monday afternoon. She did not provide specific numbers, but made clear that both sides agreed that a 1% increase was too small given the needs in both spending categories. She cited inflation, which has recently eased but is still running around 3% year over year.

The bipartisan agreement “would provide much-needed additional defense and non-defense funding to close serious deficits, address pressing new challenges at home and abroad, and invest in families and our nation’s future,” Murray said.

Murray and Collins reached an agreement before the committee began reviewing its subcommittee allocations Thursday. The committee will also consider the agriculture, legislative branch and military-VA construction bills Thursday, all of which escaped formal subcommittee reviews in that chamber.

For months, Republican senators have been pushing for increased defense spending, while Democratic senators have argued that they need a proportional increase in non-defense programs. By dividing up the additional emergency funding in this way, Murray extended an olive branch to Republicans who argue that global conflicts require more funding for the Pentagon and other security-related agencies while ensuring a significant increase in non-defense spending.

This year’s allocation is roughly in line with last year’s emergency spending deal between Murray and Collins, which called for a total of nearly $14 billion, including $8 billion for the defense bill. Senate appropriations managers were able to send all 12 bills to committee for the first time in five years, though the Republican minority voted unanimously against the subcommittee’s official allocations.

(Murray, Collins reach agreement on emergency funds for fiscal year 2024)

But that emergency spending hasn’t been included in the final budget plans for fiscal 2024 because House Republicans have pushed to cap overall spending at the levels agreed to in the debt ceiling deal. The same dynamic is playing out this year, and House Republicans will almost certainly oppose adding $34.5 billion in emergency spending, as they did last year.

Still, for some Republicans, increased defense spending could prove tempting, even at the cost of more money for domestic programs and foreign aid. The proposed increase in funding is less than the overall $28 billion increase for national defense programs in the Senate defense authorization bill, but it may be the best defense hawks can achieve in the current constrained budget environment.

Paul M. Krawzak contributed to this report.