Legislative Branch: FY2019 Appropriations

Summary

The legislative branch appropriations bill provides funding for the Senate; House of Representatives; Joint Items; Capitol Police; Office of Compliance; Congressional Budget Office (CBO); Architect of the Capitol (AOC); Library of Congress (LOC), including the Congressional Research Service (CRS); Government Publishing Office (GPO); Government Accountability Office (GAO); Open World Leadership Center; and the John C. Stennis Center.

The FY2019 legislative branch budget request of $4.960 billion was submitted on February 12, 2018. The budget request levels were developed prior to the enactment of full-year appropriations for FY2018. Agency assessments for FY2019 may subsequently have been revised—for example, to account for items funded or not funded in the FY2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act. Subsequent discussions may vary from the levels or language included in the budget request due to this timing. For purposes of this report, however, FY2019 requested levels refer to the requested levels originally submitted unless otherwise noted. By law, the President includes the legislative branch request in the annual budget submission without change.

The House Appropriations Committee’s Legislative Branch Subcommittee held hearings in April to consider the FY2019 legislative branch requests. On May 8, 2018, the House Appropriations Committee held a markup of the bill. Three amendments were considered: one, a manager’s amendment, was adopted; one amendment was not adopted; and one amendment was withdrawn. The bill was ordered reported. The House-proposed total for legislative branch activities, excluding Senate items, is $3.811 billion (H.R. 5894, H.Rept. 115-696).

The Senate Appropriations Committee’s Legislative Branch Subcommittee held hearings in April and May to consider FY2019 legislative branch requests.

The FY2018 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 115-141) provided $4.700 billion, an increase of $260.0 million (+5.9%) from FY2017. The FY2017 level of $4.440 billion was an increase of $77.0 million (+1.7%) from FY2016. The FY2016 level of $4.363 billion represented an increase of $63 million (+1.5%) from the FY2015 level of $4.300 billion, and the FY2015 level represented an increase of $41.7 million (+1.0%) from the FY2014 funding level of $4.259 billion. The FY2013 act funded legislative branch accounts at the FY2012 enacted level, with some exceptions (also known as “anomalies”), less across-the-board rescissions that applied to all appropriations in the act, and not including sequestration reductions implemented on March 1. The FY2012 level of $4.307 billion represented a decrease of $236.9 million (-5.2%) from the FY2011 level, which itself represented a decrease of $125.1 million (-2.7%) from FY2010.

The smallest of the appropriations bills, the legislative branch comprises approximately 0.4% of total discretionary budget authority.