House Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole (R-LA) has released interim Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 302(b) subcommittee allocations and begun markups of the 12 appropriations bills. In a new insight, Director of Fiscal Policy Jordan Haring walks through the interim 302(b) allocations and considers the likelihood that a continuing resolution will still be needed.

Key points:

• The recently released interim FY 2025 302(b) subcommittee allocations would spend $1.605 trillion in the next fiscal year, including $895.2 billion for defense discretionary programs and $710.7 billion for nondefense discretionary programs.
• The interim 302(b) allocations adhere to the FY 2025 caps on defense and nondefense spending set by the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) and do not include any of the “side deals” made outside of the FRA.
• The 302(b)s indicate the spending priorities for House Republicans heading into FY 2025, with the Commerce, Justice, and Science and the Financial Services and General Government subcommittees receiving significant increases and the Agriculture, Homeland Security, Interior and Environment, Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and State Department and Foreign Operations subcommittees receiving decreases.
• Despite the House beginning appropriations work four months before the current fiscal year ends, a continuing resolution will still likely be needed to fund the federal government once the current fiscal year ends.

Read the analysis