Budget

Stay up to date on appropriations from Congress and budget policies from OMB and what they mean for your agency.

Energy Department offices fail to spend over $14 billion in allocated funds

These massive rollovers happen because funds appropriated to EM and NNSA by Congress are available until they are expended. But will they get used?

2 weeks ago

Biden requests $773 billion for Pentagon, a 4% boost

Defense Department spending would see a 4% increase in fiscal 2023 under a plan released by the White House, significantly above what administration officials wanted last year but likely not enough to satisfy congressional Republicans.

5 months ago

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Congress passes defense policy bill with budget boost, military justice reforms

After months of debate and weeks of angst, the Senate has sent its annual defense bill to the president.

Senate passes stopgap funding bill, avoiding shutdown

The measure now goes to President Joe Biden to be signed into law.

8 months ago

Shutdown averted; Congress approves stopgap budget plan

The budget extension came just a few hours before federal agencies would have been forced to shutter due to a lack of funding.

10 months ago

Why federal government shutdowns happen

Congressional failure to pass funding legislation before the start of a new fiscal year didn't always result in a shutdown of agency operations.

11 months ago

GOP blocks bill to keep government going; new try ahead

In Monday night's vote, senators voted 50-48 against taking up the bill, well short of the 60 "yes" votes needed to proceed.

11 months ago

IRS funding has become a ‘self-fulfilling prophecy’

The lack of resources at the IRS has led the agency to focus more on the "easy" audits, which then leads Congress to predominantly see the low-value tax problems, rather than high-value audits.

13 months ago

House budget backs Biden vision for federal pay raise, proposes more for IRS

Federal employees would still get a 2.7 percent pay increase in 2022 under the House's version of the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill.

14 months ago

Will ‘BRAC for VA’ lead to veterans hospital closures or building more clinics?

Department leaders are expected to announce the names of the new Asset and Infrastructure Review commissioners later this month.

14 months ago

Postal Service looks to raise first-class stamp to 58 cents

The price hikes are part of Postmaster General Louis DeJoy’s 10-year plan for the agency, which faces an estimated $160 billion in operating losses over the next decade.

14 months ago

Full FY22 budget coming May 27

It is expected the Pentagon will seek to retire older systems to free up funding in its budget request.

15 months ago

House Armed Services chair ‘deeply concerned’ by White House budget delays

The Democratic chairman of the House Armed Services Committee blasted the White House for “dragging their feet” on the federal budget, urging its release by May 10 to avoid a continuing resolution.

16 months ago

President Joe Biden speaks at the Pentagon, Wednesday, Feb. 10, 2021, in Washington.

Biden requests $715B for Pentagon, hinting at administration’s future priorities

U.S. President Joe Biden’s fiscal 2022 budget request asks for $753 billion in national security funding, an increase of 1.6 percent that includes $715 billion for the Defense Department.

16 months ago

The dome of the U.S. Capitol building is seen behind a row of U.S. flags on April 10, 2020, in Washington.

How Republicans might accept a smaller defense budget

Republican Rep. Ken Calvert is willing to meet Democratic lawmakers partway in their reported plans to trim the defense budget: cut back on civilian employees, not equipment and modernization.

18 months ago

Former Pentagon comptroller: Observations and opportunities for America’s defense budget

The time is right for a fresh start, one that involves continued aggressive and unafraid changes to how the Pentagon is resourced.

19 months ago

New law eases tax repayment pain for more than a million troops

Legislation would stretch out the payments over a 12-month period instead of four months.

19 months ago

Latest fight over defense bill may push final passage into 2021

The annual defense authorization bill has hit yet another procedural roadblock, this time over an unrelated fight over stimulus checks related to the ongoing pandemic.

20 months ago

President Donald Trump rides in a motorcade vehicle as he departs Trump International Golf Club, Sunday, Dec. 27, 2020, in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Trump signs massive measure funding government, COVID relief

The massive bill includes $1.4 trillion to fund government agencies through September.

20 months ago

Trump vetoes defense bill, but Congress appears poised to override him

The president waited until the last moment to issue his attempted block of the massive defense policy measure.

20 months ago

Massive spending bill passed by Congress, sent to Trump

Congress passed a $900 billion pandemic relief package that would finally deliver long-sought cash to businesses and individuals and resources to vaccinate a nation confronting a frightening surge in COVID-19 cases and deaths.

20 months ago

Lawmakers move to ease tax repayment pain of more than a million troops

Legislation would stretch out the payments over a 12-month period instead of four months.

20 months ago

Feds get extended payroll tax timeline, likely pay increase in 2021

Federal employees and service members will be able to extend payments back to Social Security over 12 months, rather than the initial four-month timetable

20 months ago

Senate Minority Leader Sen. Chuck Schumer of N.Y., walks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2020.

Congress seals agreement on $900 billion COVID relief bill

House leaders informed lawmakers that they would vote on the legislation on Monday, and the Senate was likely to vote on Monday, too.

20 months ago

Sen. Rand Paul delays defense bill vote over troop drawdowns

Paul's objections on Thursday threatened another must-pass bill, a one-week spending measure that would keep the government open through Dec. 18.

20 months ago

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky talks during a news conference Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2020, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Lawmakers act to avert shutdown, buying time for COVID talks

Still spinning their wheels on COVID-19 relief, lawmakers grabbed a one-week government funding extension on Wednesday that buys time for more talks — though there is considerable disagreement over who is supposed to be taking the lead from there.

20 months ago

The U.S. Marine Corp's Iwo Jima Memorial can be seen as the morning sun begins to rise behind the U.S. Capitol and Washington Monument on Nov. 7, 2020, in Arlington, Va.

Congress returns with virus aid, federal funding unresolved

After months of shadowboxing amid a tense and toxic campaign, Capitol Hill's main players are returning for one final, perhaps futile, attempt at deal-making on a challenging menu of year-end business.

21 months ago

Trump signs temporary government funding bill

The temporary extension will set the stage for a lame-duck session of Congress later this year, where the agenda will be largely determined by the outcome of the presidential election.

23 months ago