Our congressional delegation is currently taking Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) Requests (commonly known as “earmarks”) from VT nonprofits for the 2024 fiscal year. Information, applications and request deadlines for each congressperson can be found below:
- Senator Peter Welch (due 3/16)
- Senator Bernie Sanders (due 3/10)
- Representative Becca Balint (due 3/10)
More Information
House Appropriations Committee:
From National Council of Nonprofits:
House Appropriations Committee Chair Kay Granger (R-TX) released a new policy on Community Project Funding (the House term for earmarks).
- Most notably, the list of accounts by subcommittees shows there won’t be earmarks coming out of the Defense, Labor-HHS, and Financial Services-General Government bills. Labor-HHS has been a major vehicle for direct funding to charitable nonprofits so this is a major blow.
- The new rules also limit earmarks to half of one percent of discretionary spending, down from one percent this current fiscal year.
- Further, the guidance for House earmarks provided yesterday states, “Memorials, museums, and commemoratives (i.e., projects named for an individual or entity) are not eligible for Community Project Funding,” but notes that “Many are eligible for competitive grants, and Members can request higher program funding levels.”
See Guidance for Community Project Funding. The Senate rules don’t match the new House approach, meaning a showdown is looming.
Senate Appropriations Committee:
Guidance for Senate CDS requests can be found here.
More from National Council of Nonprofits:
Budget Season Opens, Earmarks at Risk
This week, the White House will send to Congress its budget proposals for the 2024 fiscal year that begins on October 1. This action starts the annual budget and appropriations process that is supposed to lead to passage of 12 appropriations bills. Split control of the House and Senate will make it difficult for Congress to reach agreement on how much to spend next year on defense and non-defense priorities, let alone enact any of the separate spending bills. Commentators are already predicting that federal lawmakers will be forced once again to pass a stopgap spending measure called a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the federal government open into the fall and perhaps the full fiscal year.
Use of a CR can impact the work of many nonprofits by limiting funding. In recent years, Congress enacted spending laws that included billions in direct funding for specific projects and programs run by charitable nonprofits or governments in local communities. However, these direct spending decisions – known as “earmarks” – can’t be included in a Continuing Resolution, so the fate of spending bills can have a significant impact on the ability of thousands of organizations to serve their communities. Further limiting the benefit of earmarks, the House last week released a new policy on Community Project Funding (the House term for earmarks), banning earmarks by three subcommittees (Defense, Labor-HHS, and Financial Services-General Government). The Labor-HHS appropriations bill has historically been a major vehicle for direct funding to charitable nonprofits. The new rules also limit earmarks to half of one percent of discretionary spending, down from one percent this current fiscal year. See Guidance for Community Project Funding for more information. The Senate rules do not match the new House approach, meaning a showdown is looming.