LegiStorm

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); the Open World Leadership Center; and the John C. Stennis Center. The legislative branch FY2016 budget request of $4.528 billion was submitted on February 2, 2015. By law, the President includes the legislative branch request in the annual budget without change. A budget amendment was transmitted by the President to Congress on April 14, 2015. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees' Legislative Branch Subcommittees held hearings in February and March to consider the FY2016 legislative branch requests. The House subcommittee held a markup of its bill on April 23, 2015. The full committee met on April 30, 2015, and agreed to (1) a manager's amendment; (2) an amendment establishing a House Technology Task Force; and (3) an amendment increasing the funding for Open World (offset from funding from the Architect of the Capitol, Capitol Power Plant). All were adopted by voice vote. One additional amendment was defeated (21-29) and two were withdrawn. The bill would have provided $3.341 billion (not including Senate items), equivalent to the FY2015 level. It was ordered reported by voice vote (H.R. 2250, H.Rept. 114-110). The House Rules Committee met on May 18 to discuss a structured rule for H.R. 2250. The rule made in order three amendments. The committee voted, 9-4, to report the rule (H.Res. 271, H.Rept. 114-120). H.Res. 271 was agreed to in the House (242-179) the next day. H.R. 2250 was considered in the House on May 19. The three amendments included (1) eliminating funding for Open World, which was agreed to (224-199); (2) prohibiting the use of any funds for delivering printed copies of the Congressional Pictorial Directory, which was agreed to (voice vote); and (3) providing for a 1% across-the-board reduction, with some exceptions, which was not agreed to (172-250). The bill, as amended, was agreed to (357-67). The Senate Appropriations Committee reported the bill, with an amendment in the nature of a substitute, on June 11, 2015 (S.Rept. 114-64). No further action occurred prior to the start of the fiscal year, and the legislative branch was funded by continuing resolutions enacted on September 30 (P.L. 114-53), December 11 (P.L. 114-96), and December 16 (P.L. 114-100). The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016, was enacted on December 18, 2015, and provides $4.36 billion for legislative branch activities, an increase of 1.5% from the FY2015 level (P.L. 114-113). Legislative branch funding peaked in FY2010, and the FY2016 enacted level remains below the FY2009 level of $4.501 billion. The Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (P.L. 113-235, Division H, enacted December 16, 2014) provides $4.300 billion, 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 represented a decrease of $236.9 million (-5.2%) from the FY2011 level, which itself represented a $125.1 million decrease (-2.7%) from FY2010. The smallest of the appropriations bills, the legislative branch comprises approximately 0.4% of total discretionary budget authority.