Washington Update 

Appropriations Update 
Over the weekend, President Biden signed into law a package containing the Agriculture-FDA, Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy and Water Development, Interior-Environment, Military Construction-VA, and Transportation-HUD appropriations bills.  

Congress now turns its attention towards passing the remaining six bills, which are operating under a Continuing Resolution that expires on March 22. The remaining bills, Defense, Financial Services, Homeland Security, Labor-HHS-Education, Legislative Branch, and State and Foreign Operations, account for about 70 percent of the government’s discretionary spending. 

APLU produced an analysis that contains funding levels and policy provisions of interest within the six bills President Biden signed into law. Additionally, the APLU appropriations priorities chart reflects the latest action. 

President’s Fiscal Year 2025 Budget Request Released 
The White House released its Fiscal Year 2025 (FY25) Budget Request, proposing $734 billion in non-defense spending and $895 billion in defense spending. APLU produced a detailed analysis of the request, focusing on funding levels and policy language for programs of interest to APLU institutions at priority agencies.  

As examples, the budget proposal includes:  

• $750 increase to the Pell Grant maximum through discretionary and mandatory spending increases 
• $10.2 billion for the National Science foundation  
• $8.6 billion for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science 
• $48.3 billion for the National Institute of Health.  

The President’s Budget Request largely adheres to the funding levels outlined in the Fiscal Responsibility Act, which caps non-defense funding increases at 1 percent and limits overall discretionary spending to $1.6 trillion. These constraints do not allow for sustained year over year growth for many APLU priority accounts.  

APLU President Mark Becker released a statement upon release of the budget proposal, thanking the administration for its proposed increase to the Pell Award but noting the budget falls short in adequately supporting science and research. 

The administration’s FY25 Budget Request was released prior to Congress finalizing all of FY24 appropriations. As a result, the budget’s proposed funding levels are compared to the FY23 levels. The APLU appropriations priorities chart details FY2023 and FY2024 (where possible) appropriation levels, and the administration’s FY2025 budget request levels.