Potential Cuts in the Next Appropriations Bill

A list of harms from the Republican Continuing Resolution

The Continuing Resolution (“CR”) passed on March 14, 2025, let to some immediate decreases in funding.

The final Appropriations Bill that will be voted on in September may have the same targets for cuts.

Overall, the CR added $6 billion to defense spending and subtracted $13 billion from social spending programs.

Ranking Member House Appropriations Member, Rosa DeLaura reports that the full-year continuing resolution includes the following:

  • This bill fails to include $22.8 billion in fiscal year 2026 advanced funding for the Toxic Exposures Fund to care for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances.
  • Fails to Lower the Cost of Housing – This bill fails to lower the cost of housing and instead cuts rent subsidies for low-income and working Americans by more than $700 million, leaving landlords to foot the bill for or evict more than 32,000 households including veterans, survivors of domestic violence, seniors, and families with disabilities, including providing $168 million less than what is needed to maintain homeless services across 400 communities nationally.
  • Adds Chaos and Costs for Commuters – This bill enables Musk and Trump to defund projects already
    underway that improve daily commutes for Americans, giving them full control of the future of public
    private capital investment grants for projects that eliminate transportation deserts and improve road
    congestion, subway systems, light rail, and bus routes across California, Florida, Illinois, Minnesota,
    New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Washington, and Wisconsin.
  • The Emergency Food Program – Neglects to fully fund the Emergency Food Program (TEFAP) by $20 million at a time of rising food costs and would leave 25,000 seniors unable to participate in the Commodity Supplemental Food Program.
  • Social Security Administration – Allows Elon Musk and President Trump to fire thousands of
    employees at the Social Security Administration, which would result in closures of Social Security
    offices, increased wait times for the 1-800 number, and unacceptable backlogs for Social Security
    beneficiaries trying to access their earned benefits.
  • Disaster Relief Fund (DRF) – The DRF will not be able to get through the remainder of the fiscal year
    and will need an influx of funding to address disasters throughout this fiscal year – especially with an
    approaching hurricane season. The fund is currently on pace to meet only the most dire immediate life
    and safety needs by late spring– in the middle of tornado season and well before hurricane season starts
    in June.
  • Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) – Fails to provide additional resources for regulating the
    securities industry, enforcing securities laws, and protecting investors by ensuring fair and efficient
    markets, fostering transparency and preventing fraud.
  • K-12 Education – Funding for Democratic education priorities, such as grants for school-based mental
    health services and community schools, could be transferred to fund Trump administration priorities,
    such as charter schools.
  • Student Financial Assistance for College Students – Funding for student financial assistance
    programs would be at risk, including funding for Federal Work Study and Supplemental Educational
    Opportunity Grants.
  • Small Business Administration – Programs that benefit entrepreneurs, including veteran-owned small
    businesses and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, could be cut or eliminated.
  • Public Stewardship Partners – No ability to protect funding for National Heritage Areas, National
    Trails System, and other caucus priorities.
  • Power Marketing Administrations – Does not provide the requested budgets for daily operations and
    maintenance activities at the Power Marketing Administrations (PMAs). PMAs provide electricity to
    more than 60 million people across 34 states, and without sufficient operating funds, customers are
    likely to experience energy cost increases and power disruptions.
  • Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Projects – Cuts $1.4 billion (44 percent) from Corps Construction
    activities and all project funding levels will be at the discretion of the administration, including for over
    1,000 projects throughout the country that would otherwise be directed by Congress. These projects
    keep commerce safely flowing on our waterways, manage flood risk, and restore ecosystems.
  • Rural Development Broadband – Cuts support for the rural broadband Community Connect program
    by $30 million, undercutting key investments in Rural America.
  • Federal Aviation Administration – Provides a blank check to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the amount of $4 billion, enabling Elon Musk to direct contracts to Starlink and SpaceX (companies owned by Musk) at a time when unvetted and unchecked SpaceX employees have burrowed in the FAA (the same Federal agency that regulates SpaceX),with no requirement for public transparency, fair competition, or Congressional approval. This comes at a time when mission-critical jobs have been cut at the FAA and Elon Musk’s spaceships exploded across the United States and Caribbean during two failed space launches since January, causing major disruptions to air travelers across Florida, and forcing the FAA and commercial airlines to divert air travel for thousands of travelers and costing thousands in lost revenue. This is yet another example of the Trump administration prioritizing profits over the safety of the American people.
  • Cuts Local Transportation Safety Projects – Cuts $2 billion in Congressionally directed projects
    designated to improve the safety of our airports, railways, roads, and ports across all 50 states and U.S.
    territories at a time when the Trump administration has unlawfully frozen more than $60 billion in
    grants to public and private partners who help protect the traveling public and lower the costs to
    transport our fuel, agriculture, and U.S. manufactured goods. This bill does nothing to hold Department
    of Transportation (DOT) accountable for its unlawful actions to freeze funds while also cutting basic
    transportation improvements projects that both Republicans and Democrats secured funding for in their
    districts.
  • Office of National Drug Control Policy – The nearly $300 million High Intensity Drug Trafficking
    Areas Program, which ensures communities are equipped with the necessary resources to coordinate law
    enforcement strategies adequately to combat drugs, including opioids such as fentanyl, would not be
    directed to prioritize states with the highest overdose death rates when designating new areas.
  • Prioritizes Detention Beds, Including Restarting Family Detention Beds, Over Counter-Fentanyl
    and Other Cross-Border Enforcement Efforts – Provides ICE with close to a $10 billion blank check
    to continue its ongoing efforts to increase detention beds with no oversight guardrails or assurances that
    other critical homeland security operations and investigations, such as countering fentanyl and illicit
    narcotics, combatting human trafficking, and other transnational criminal activities are prioritized.
  • District of Columbia (DC) Local Funds – Limits DC to their fiscal year 2024 funding levels for local
    funding, drastically impacting the city. This would cut the District’s spending by more than $940
    million. Law enforcement and public safety would be cut by nearly $240 million and education by
    nearly $400 million. Teachers, firefighters, law enforcement, and other first responders would be
    furloughed.
  • Nuclear Weapons Proliferation and Nuclear Terrorism – Cuts $185 million (7 percent) for Defense
    Nuclear Nonproliferation programs, including from programs that prevent terrorists from acquiring
    nuclear and radioactive material; remove radioactive materials at risk of being misused or causing a
    catastrophic accident; and detect and monitor foreign nuclear fuel cycle and weapons development
    activities, nuclear material movement or diversion, and nuclear explosions.
  • Maritime Security – Jeopardizes maritime readiness by shortchanging the Department of
    Transportation’s critical maritime fleet construction program that provides the Department of Defense
    supply chain logistics support and refueling needs, while also failing to meet the requirements of the
    National Defense Authorization Act of 2024 funding levels.
  • Ukraine – Shortchanges economic and security funding through the Department of State and USAID as
    the country transitions away from supplemental funding.
  • Federal Courts – No increase is provided for the Federal Courts and Public Defenders, despite
    increasing workloads.
  • Election Security – Cuts up to $40 million in election security grant funding, which means elections
    will be less fair and secure.
  • Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service – Recklessly underfunds the Animal and Plant Health
    Inspection Service by $27 million, undercutting the response to avian flu.
  • National Institutes of Health (NIH) – Cuts funding for NIH by $280 million due to reduced funding transferred from the 21st Century Cures Act. Congressional directives to support biomedical research priorities would disappear, including directives related to research on cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, ALS, heart disease, diabetes, kidney disease, mental health, maternal mortality, infectious diseases, genetic diseases, rare diseases, and countless other health conditions.
  • Veterans’ Healthcare – Due to the success of the PACT Act, more veterans are enrolled in VA care
    than ever. While the bill includes $6 billion in mandatory funds to address the fiscal year 2025 shortfall,
    this bill fails to advance fund the $22.8 billion in fiscal year 2026, which House Republicans included in
    their bill. Reneging on this funding means future uncertainty in medical care for veterans.
  • Department of Veterans Affairs Veterans Health Administration (VHA) – Funding levels for some
    programs within VHA, such as homelessness assistance grants, mental health care, rural health, opioid
    and substance abuse programs, some oncology programs, and caregivers support, are not specified. The
    administration could redirect these funds to other purposes or eliminate them.
  • Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – Funding for CDC would be allocated under 13
    broad public health categories, ranging from $210 million to $1.4 billion, instead of being allocated to
    more than 130 public health programs and activities, specified by Congress, which would shift control
    over public health priorities from Congress to the Administration.
  • Health and Education Programs for Underserved Populations – Specific funding allocations for
    programs to assist underserved populations would be at risk, including programs such as health
    workforce training, minority health and women’s health, TRIO and GEAR UP programs, and
    Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Hispanic Serving Institutions.
  • Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) – Funding levels within the EPA are not specified, and the administration could eliminate funding for climate change, Environmental Justice, and PFAS research.
  • Renewable Energy – Funding within the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management and Bureau of Safety
    and Environmental Enforcement could be eliminated.
  • Department of Energy’s Climate-Related Energy and Science Programs – Does not provide
    guidance to the $15 billion in climate-related funding that will then be at the whim of the administration.
  • United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service – All funding
    levels will be at the administration’s discretion. This includes nearly $2 billion in research priorities
    across the country that Congress would cede control of over to the administration, potentially putting at
    risk key investments in barley and smoke taint research.
  • USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture – Cuts $37 million from the National Institute for
    Food and Agriculture to support agricultural research across the country.
  • USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service – Cuts $30 million from the Natural Resources
    Conservation Service for assistance to farmers to improve their lands and for conservation activities.
  • Department of Commerce – the Trump administration would have broad discretion to eliminate
    individual programs of the Economic Development Administration and the National Oceanic and
    Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This includes individual NOAA programs impacting coastal and
    Great Lakes areas, as well as funding for climate change research and for improvements in the
    forecasting of severe weather.
  • International Boundary and Water Commission (IBWC) – Reduces the construction funds available
    to the IBWC by 50% reducing the ability to do needed repairs and maintenance to water infrastructure
    on the border.

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