FY25 Appropriations Process Heats Up in June
Congress is ready to begin the next phase of the FY2025 appropriations process. The U.S. House of Representatives has already announced an aggressive timetable to “mark-up” their proposed FY25 spending levels this summer. The Senate has not yet released its appropriations mark-up schedule, but is anticipated to begin work in June.
Youth Collaboratory has been advocating with our congressional champions and decision-makers for the highest possible funding allocations for federal programs supporting vulnerable young people. Specifically, Youth Collaboratory has requested $305 million for the Runaway and Homeless Youth (RHY) programs, $153 million for the Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP), and $130 million for the Youth Mentoring Grant.
The House has set an ambitious goal to pass out of committee all of their FY25 bills before the end of summer. The House Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill containing mentoring funds is scheduled to be marked up the week of July 22nd. The Labor-Health and Human Services-Education (LHHS) and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (THUD) bills — containing funds for RHY and YHDP, respectively — are scheduled for the following week of July 29th. Although the Senate has not yet released their mark-up schedule, we expect them to begin its process this summer as well.
Because Congress passed the Fiscal Responsibility Act in spring 2023, there is a legal cap on the amount of discretionary dollars that can be spent by Congress in FY25 unless the underlying law is changed. Over the next several months, congressional appropriators will be forced to make difficult decisions on which programs will be cut (or will receive a de facto cut due to inflation) in FY25 in order to abide by the spending caps. With the Presidential election just around the corner, the jockeying between House Republicans and Senate Democrats has only just begun. Although there is much advocacy work to be done in the coming months, it is unlikely FY25 funding will be finalized prior to the November elections.
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