Fiscal Year 2016 Appropriations and the “Omnibus”

Current Status of FY 2016 Appropriations

To date, the House has passed 6 of the 12 annual appropriations bills for fiscal year 2016 (Commerce-Justice-Science, Defense, Energy and Water, Legislative Branch, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and Transportation-HUD). The remaining bills have been reported by the House Appropriations Committee. The Senate Appropriations Committee has reported 12 of the bills, and the FY 2016 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs bill passed the full Senate earlier this month.

Fiscal year 2016 began on October 1, 2015. A continuing resolution was enacted prior to the conclusion of FY 2015 to keep discretionary spending programs funded through December 11, 2015 at the FY 2015 level. The FY 2016 appropriations process may conclude with an “omnibus” that would combine all twelve bills into one larger bill and provide spending authority for discretionary programs through the end of FY 2016.

BBA15 Amends Spending Limits

With enactment of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, appropriations bills for FY 2016 and FY 2017 will be considered within the context of new, higher discretionary spending limits.  Specifically, in FY 2016, non-defense and defense caps are both increased by $25 billion. In FY 2017, non-defense and defense caps are both increased by $15 billion.

Recent Trends in Discretionary Spending

Base discretionary appropriations spending increased from $933 billion in FY 2008 to $1,091 billion in FY 2010, but it has declined from this peak in recent years. FY 2015 base discretionary spending was $78 billion below FY 2010 levels, and total FY 2015 discretionary spending was $176 billion below the FY 2010 level. Table 1 shows the recent history of discretionary spending.