March Deadlines Looming As Lawmakers Are Faced with Policy Riders

ECA Staff | 02/13/2024 

As the March 1 and 8 deadlines approach, lawmakers have quietly and continuously worked on appropriation bills to fund the government for FY24. Lawmakers face deadlines on March 1 and 8 to avoid partial government shutdowns. Four bills which make up about 20% of the discretionary funding face the first deadline, March 1. The rest of the eight bills have a March 8 deadline. While top-line numbers have been agreed upon for a few weeks, leaders are faced with policy riders. 

The graphic below courtesy of Bloomberg Government depicts the specific bills and their deadline.

Policy riders are measures that are used to block or change federal policies beyond the regular focus on dollar amount. On January 7, House and Senate leaders made a high-;evel deal on top-line defense and non-defense funding levels, but there was no agreement on the approach to policy measures. 

As March is approaching with these two deadline, it is important to recall the provision in the  Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) negotiated last year between President Biden and House Republicans. Congress faces an automatic sequestration of 1% across all agencies' budget on May 1 if Congress has not yet approved full-year funding. This was designed to incentivize lawmakers to complete their budgeting work. The FRA would result in nearly a 10% cut across the board which could impact almost every agency. With most appropriation subcommittees declining meetings until bills pass, it can be expected for lawmakers to prioritize and do their best to reach the March deadlines.

While lawmakers continue to work towards FY24 appropriations bills to fund the government through September 30, FY25’s budget request is pushed further down. President Biden announced that his FY25 budget request will be released March 11, 2024. 

ECA will continue to provide updates as appropriation bills continue to move forward.