Senator negotiators advance more than $1 trillion in 2025 government funding

Senate negotiators on Thursday voted to advance more than $1 trillion in government funding for fiscal 2025, clearing four spending bills with overwhelming bipartisan support.

The powerful Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday passed bills to fund the departments of Defense, Energy, Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education, along with funding for financial services, general government and water development. 

The recent passages bring the committee’s total tally to 11, after the committee scrapped plans days ago to hold votes on the annual Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations bill for fiscal 2025.

The defense funding bill is the largest of the bunch advanced Thursday, allowing for more than $850 billion for much of 2025, up more than 3 percent from the current fiscal year. That includes boosts above President Biden’s budget request for the Special Victims’ Counsel program, Central Command operations, hypersonics test infrastructure and research, among a list of other increases.

The committee approved more than $60 billion in funding for the full-year energy and water development funding bill, which included what negotiators touted as a “historic $3.147 billion” for the Harbor Maintenance Trust Fund, while also increasing funds for the Bureau of Reclamation above current levels, in addition to the Office of Science and for “advanced simulation and computing” at the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Appropriators approved more than $230 billion in base discretionary funding for the annual HHS spending bill for fiscal 2025. Agencies that see boosts under the bill, which also covers budgets for the departments of Labor and Education, include the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, the Social Security Administration, and some higher education programs.

The full-year financial services and general government appropriations bill also includes about  $27.9 billion in funding, and covers some year-over-year increases for the Treasury Department, the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, election security grants, the Small Business Administration and other offices. 

Sen. Susan Collins (Maine), top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Thursday that work “continues in earnest on the Homeland Security bill.”

“That bill provides critical resources to secure our borders, support our Coast Guard and fund important state and local grant programs including assistance to firefighters,” she said, adding it also “funds the Secret Service, which, given the recent assassination attempt on President Trump and changes atop the Democratic presidential ticket, requires additional time consideration and scrutiny.”

Her words came a day after Sens. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) and Katie Britt (R-Ala.), the respective chair and top Republican on the subcommittee that crafts the annual DHS funding bill, penned a letter to Acting Secret Service Director Ronald Rowe pressing for information regarding the agency’s budgetary needs.

“Following the assassination attempt on former President Trump, President Biden announced that Secret Service protection will also be provided to presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” they wrote. “Two vice presidential candidates will now also require protection. As a result, the Secret Service is assuming new protection costs related to the campaign at a time when it already appears to lack sufficient resources to fulfill its protective mission.”

However, some senators have also suggested there are additional issues that could be delaying the bill, which is usually regarded as one of the toughest to pass.

Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.) told The Hill earlier this week that she thinks there has been “some frustration” regarding the amendment process in particular, noting potential votes on items dealing with immigration that could be prompting some concern on the Democratic side.