Now that the Trump Administration has finally released its Fiscal Year 2027 (FY27) Budget Request, the appropriations process on the Hill is kicking into high gear. FABBS takes action throughout the year to ensure our disciplines are represented and supported during this process, both in funding and in bill and report language discussions(see the Federal Budget Process Timeline). In our appropriations advocacy, FABBS primarily focuses on four federal agencies: the National Institutes of Health (NIH), the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES).
FABBS contributes to the appropriations process by submitting testimony to relevant subcommittees in both the House and Senate. We focus on two of the 12 subcommittees:
- The Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (LHHS) Subcommittee, which covers NIH, ARPA-H, and IES.
- The Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Subcommittee, which covers NSF.
Congressional staff carry large portfolios and are expected to have expertise in numerous federal agencies and policies. FABBS has long worked to communicate the perspective of the stakeholder community to our colleagues on the Hill, sharing successes and challenges. Given the rapid and significant changes and diminished transparency across the federal government, colleagues on both sides of the aisle have explained that they are relying on the advocacy community to help update them on how disruptions are playing out in the field.
FABBS has submitted comments to the House LHHS Subcommittee advocating for robust funding for major health agencies and programs, following the recommendations put forth by stakeholder coalitions (see FABBS FY27 Budget Priorities). We also raised specific concerns about NIH and IES that we hope Congress can address in its bill and report language. For NIH, we informed the Subcommittee about delays in grantmaking and concerns the agency may not spend its full FY26 appropriations by the end of the fiscal year in September. We flagged potential causes for delay, including bottlenecks at the Department of Health and Human Services, the leadership vacuum at many institutes and centers, and underpopulated Advisory Councils. For IES, we warned the Subcommittee that the agency remains debilitatingly understaffed and has still not obligated all of its FY25 funds, which will expire and return to the treasury in September. FABBS urged Congress to increase its oversight of the agency to ensure that it is functioning properly.
The next step for Congress is for each chamber to “markup” its own versions of the 12 appropriations bills. Each bill is brought before the appropriate Subcommittee for debate and is refined through an amendment process, which is then repeated with the full Appropriations Committee. The House has released its markup schedule and the Senate will likely follow in a few weeks. Markup sessions are streamed live for public viewing. The key sessions for FABBS are:
- LHHS Bill Subcommittee Markup – June 5 @ 8:00am ET
- LHHS Bill Full Committee Markup – June 9 @ 11:00am ET
- CJS Bill Subcommittee Markup – April 30 @ 8:00am ET
- CJS Bill Full Committee Markup – May 13 @ 11:00am ET
Once a bill is approved at the Committee level, it moves to the chamber floor for another round of debate, amendment, and approval. After each chamber approves its bills, House and Senate appropriators negotiate and finalize each bill after which the president (usually) signs them into law. Typically, markups take place in May and June, with floor consideration in June and July and conference negotiations in late summer and early fall. However, this process has been considerably delayed in recent years, so it is likely— especially given that it is an election year — that at the end of the fiscal year in September, we may see continuing resolutions (CRs). Along with our typical appropriations advocacy, FABBS is considering what steps can be taken to ensure our disciplines are supported and protected in any CRs.
