House, Senate Gear Up to Work on Spending Bills
Washington Update
Appropriations
This week, the Senate will begin markup of the FY25 annual spending bills — starting with three measures and overall funding totals for a dozen appropriations bills. On Thursday, July 11, the full Senate Appropriations Committee will take up its Legislative Branch, Military Construction-VA, and Agriculture-FDA spending bills — bypassing subcommittee markups. While Senate Democrats and Republicans have still not reached consensus on overall FY25 funding levels for all 12 bills, the numbers will likely pass the committee along party lines. Last summer, under the leadership of Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (WA) and ranking member Susan Collins (ME), the committee approved all 12 bills for the first time in five years.
In the House, six appropriations bills are heading for full committee markups this week, including: Commerce- Justice-Science, Interior-Environment, Energy-Water, Labor-HHS-Education, Transportation-HUD, and Agriculture-FDA. House GOP leaders are hoping their Legislative Branch funding measure will be the next to pass a floor vote, joining the lower chamber’s already passed Military Construction-VA, Defense, State-Foreign Operations, and Homeland Security bills. The House has set an ambitious plan to approve all 12 funding measures before the August recess.
It is almost certain that Congress will need to pass a continuing resolution to avoid a shutdown later this year — likely punting negotiations to after Election Day.
WIOA Reauthorization
On Friday, July 5, the National Governors Association (NGA) released a statement on the need for Congress to pass a bipartisan reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).
In the statement NGA called for “expanding the Governors’ discretion over statewide activities, empowering Governors to determine local areas, establishing a dedicated funding source for Individual Training Accounts and Youth Apprenticeships, and providing states and territories the opportunity to consolidate Title I funds into a single grant. Governors also hope that Congress will consider increasing the funding for WIOA proportional to the impact we hope it has on the workforce.”
Click here to read the statement.
Unemployment Rate
On Friday, July 5, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the June unemployment report, which showed nonfarm payrolls increased by 206,000 last month, better than the Dow Jones forecast of 200,000 but less than the downwardly revised gain of 218,000 in May. The unemployment rate unexpectedly climbed to 4.1%, tied for the highest level since October 2021. Average hourly earnings increased 0.3% for the month and 3.9% from a year ago - in line with estimates.
Click here to access the report.
Click here to read Acting Secretary of Labor Su’s statement on the June jobs report.
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