Congress punted federal spending decisions for Fiscal Year 2025 – which begins October 1, 2024 – until after the fall elections.
On September 26, the House voted 341 to 82, and the Senate voted 78 to 18, to pass the Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act (H.R. 9747), sending it to President Biden’s desk for signature. Once signed, it will mostly extend federal programs and spending through December 20 at their current FY 2024 levels.
This grants Congress a couple more months to resolve their differences in federal funding, including for the Census Bureau (as part of the Commerce Justice Science Appropriations bill).
As we reported early in September, the Administration did not request a funding anomaly for the Census Bureau, despite stakeholder concerns that we are nearing a precarious point in the decennial cycle where flat funding could jeopardize preparations for the 2030 Census, particularly the field tests.
The Senate Appropriations Committee approved $1.577 billion for the Census Bureau as part of their CJS Appropriations legislation on July 25, while the House Appropriations Committee approved $1.354 billion in their bill on July 9. In addition to differences in funding levels, the House bill included a provision (Sec. 621) concerning to most stakeholders that would restrict most survey contacts with households and respondents, as well as another controversial provision (Sec. 559) that would prohibit funds being spent to include any “aliens…unlawfully present” in the U.S. for the purpose of producing the apportionment counts in any subsequent decennial.
More work remains to be done, and a short time to get it done.
