Ida A. Brudnick
Specialist on the Congress
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 Printing Office (GPO); Government Accountability Office (GAO); and Open World Leadership Center.
The legislative branch FY2014 budget request of $4.512 billion was submitted on April 10, 2013. By law, the President includes the requests submitted from the legislative branch in the annual budget without change.
The House and Senate Appropriations Committees’ Legislative Branch Subcommittees held hearings to consider the FY2014 legislative branch requests.
The House subcommittee held its markup on July 9, 2013, and the full committee held a markup on July 18. Seven amendments were offered in the full committee, and four were agreed to by voice vote or accepted. The bill, which would provide $3.233 billion (not including Senate items), was reported on July 23 (H.R. 2792, H.Rept. 113-173).
The Senate Appropriations Committee held a markup on July 11 (S. 1283, S.Rept. 113-70). It would provide $2.978 billion (not including House items). No amendments were offered in the Senate markup.
Neither a legislative branch appropriations bill, nor a continuing appropriations resolution (CR), containing FY2014 funding was enacted prior to the beginning of the fiscal year on October 1. A funding gap, which resulted in a partial government shutdown, ensued for 16 days. The funding gap was terminated by the enactment of a CR (P.L. 113-46) on October 17, 2013. The funding provided by the CR expires on January 15, 2014, unless superseded by the enactment of annual appropriations. The legislative branch previously experienced a funding gap in FY1996 (November 14-18, 1995).
The legislative branch budget has decreased each year since FY2010. 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. P.L. 112-10 (enacted on April 15, 2011) provided $4.543 billion for FY2011 legislative branch operations. P.L. 111-68 (enacted on October 1, 2009) provided $4.656 billion for FY2010. The FY2010 Supplemental Appropriations Act (P.L. 111- 212) provided an additional $12.96 million for the Capitol Police.
The smallest of the appropriations bills, the legislative branch comprises approximately 0.4% of total discretionary budget authority.
Date of Report: November 25, 2013
Number of Pages: 36
Order Number: R43151
Price: $29.95
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