Senate to kick off fiscal 2025 markups next week

The Senate will begin marking up annual spending bills next week, starting with three fiscal 2025 measures and overall funding totals for a dozen appropriations bills.

Bypassing subcommittee markups, the full Senate Appropriations Committee will take up its Legislative Branch, Military Construction-VA and Agriculture-FDA spending bills on July 11, in addition to a dozen subcommittee allocations known as the 302(b)s.

Key context: Like last year, Senate Democrats and Republicans have not reached an agreement on overall funding levels for 12 appropriations bills, and the numbers will likely pass the committee along party lines. The spending bills that flow from those totals, however, are expected to pass the committee with bipartisan support.

The committee approved a dozen appropriations bills last summer for the first time in five years under the leadership of Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and ranking member Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine).

In the House: Six bills — including the Commerce-Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, Energy-Water, Labor-HHS-Education, Transportation-HUD and Agriculture-FDA measures — are headed for full committee markups next week, while GOP leaders in the lower chamber aim to pass their Legislative Branch funding measure on the floor.

House Republicans have so far passed their Military Construction-VA, Defense, State-Foreign Operations and Homeland Security bills on the floor, pursuing an ambitious plan to approve all 12 before the August recess.

With federal cash set to run out on Oct. 1 and a presidential election approaching, Congress will almost certainly have to pass a so-called continuing resolution to avoid a shutdown later this fall. That would punt current funding levels and buy more time for bipartisan, bicameral government funding talks after Election Day.