Federal Government Spending Battles Continue

While Congress avoided the U.S. defaulting on its loans and an international financial disaster by reaching a deal to suspend the country’s the debt limit, the deal included budget caps that will dramatically affect federal spending for the next two years.

This agreement on budget caps now extends to congressional decisions on the annual appropriations bills that fund the federal government as Congress must agree on funding levels within those caps. For fiscal year (FY) 2024, which begins in October, appropriators in the House and Senate are taking very different approaches to spending under the caps. Fiscal conservatives are arguing for deep cuts below the caps while other policymakers are fighting for increases to social programs causing political gridlock.  

In the House of Representatives, the Chair of the Appropriations Committee, Kay Granger (R-TX) has stated that she and others in the majority view the caps as a “ceiling, not a floor.” Consistent with this view, the House Appropriations Committee recently released top-line funding levels for each of the 12 appropriations bills with significant cuts relative to FY 2023 levels. For the bill that funds the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other important public health agencies, the bill contains a cut of over $60 billion, or nearly 30%. The Senate, on the other hand, is preparing spending bills with levels that more closely track the recent debt ceiling deal.  

The difference between the House and Senate is considerable and likely foreshadows more debate and difficult decisions about funding priorities throughout the summer and into the fall. It is critical that all researchers funded by the NIH join our online advocacy campaign to urge their representatives and senators to protect NIH funding. Visit www.endocrine.org/takeaction to make your voice heard and to protect the NIH and other research and public health agencies from severe cuts.

You may also like

  • August 2024 Endocrine Society Advocacy Update

    Revised Version of TROA Passes House Ways & Means Committee On June 27, 2024, the House Ways and Means Committee passed a revised version of the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act (TROA), legislation that would allow Medicare coverage of anti-obesity medications (AOMs), which currently is prohibited under law. The version that passed would only allow…

  • Endocrine Society Continues Global EDC Advocacy; EU Election Results Leaves Outcomes for EDC Legislation Uncertain  

    On June 17, the Endocrine Society joined delegations from dozens of countries gathered in Geneva, Switzerland, for the third session of an ad hoc open-ended working group (OEWG) convened under the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) to develop proposals to establish a new science policy panel charged with helping to inform governments, companies, farmers and…

Find more in