House Releases FY 2024 Community Project Funding Guidance – Fund Finance

Highlights

• The House Appropriations Committee on Feb. 28, 2023, released
  the fiscal year (FY) 2024 guidance for Community Project Funding,
  also known as earmarks.




• Community project funding allows House members to fund specific
  projects for state, local or tribal governmental grantees and
  certain eligible nonprofits. In the Senate, members engage in a
  similar earmark process called Congressionally Directed
  Spending.




• As part of their national platform to lower federal spending,
  the total sum of FY 2024 earmarks in the House will not exceed
  one-half of 1 percent of discretionary spending. The Senate
  guidance remains the same as in the 117th Congress, with funding
  not to exceed 1 percent.

House Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Kay Granger (R-Texas)
on Feb. 28, 2023, released the fiscal year (FY) 2024 guidance for
Community Project Funding (CPF), also known as earmarks. Community
project funding allows House members to fund specific projects for
state, local or tribal governmental grantees and certain eligible
nonprofits. In the Senate, members engage in a similar earmark
process called Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS).

Before the 118th Congress was seated in January 2023, House
Republicans indicated that they intended to revisit the community
project funding process. The House Appropriations Committee, based
on input from the majority leadership and the GOP caucus, has made
several fundamental changes to the process in FY 2024 that limit
the reach and scope of projects that may be funded.

As part of their national platform to lower federal spending,
House Republicans will reduce the number of federal dollars
appropriated for House earmarks. For FY 2024, the total sum of
earmarks in the House will not exceed one-half of 1 percent of
discretionary spending. In the 117th Congress, under the leadership
of the former Appropriations Committee Chair Rosa DeLauro
(D-Conn.), the total sum of earmarks could be up to 1 percent of
discretionary spending. With this change, the number of House
earmarks and/or their dollar amounts could be significantly lower
than in past funding bills. The Senate guidance remains the same as
in the 117th Congress, with funding not to exceed 1 percent.

In addition to reduced funding, there are several other new
requirements. House members must:

• identify a federal “nexus” for their requested
  projects




• cite a specific section of the U.S. Code that supports the
  project




• provide an explanation as to why it is a good use of taxpayer
  dollars, and




• not make requests for “memorials, museums, and
  commemoratives (i.e., projects named for an individual or
  entity)

The House is also changing the accounts in which projects may be
requested. Many accounts are no longer “open” for
earmarks, and new substantive limits are proposed for some of the
accounts that remain open. In a few instances, however, new
accounts have been opened to earmarks.

House members can no longer submit community project funding
requests through the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education
(LHHS-Ed), Financial Services and Department of Defense (DoD)
appropriations bills. This change will impact healthcare entities,
schools and universities, workforce programs and other nonprofit
entities that previously received LHHS-Ed projects; as well as
small business incubator programs funded through the Financial
Services bill. The Senate also imposed a ban on DoD earmarks, but
this change is relatively insignificant because there were only a
handful of such projects funded in the 117th Congress. Eligible
entities may continue to request earmark funding through the
LHHS-Ed and Financial Services bills in the Senate.

In bills that are still open for projects, the House made
numerous account changes, including:

Energy and Water Appropriations Bill

• U.S. Department of Energy no longer eligible (previous bills
  allowed projects for energy-related research, facility upgrades and
  related activities focused on matters such as alternative energy,
  sustainable energy and energy efficiency).

Interior/Environment Appropriations Bill

• Land and Water Conservation Fund no longer eligible.




• State and Private Forestry no longer eligible.

House Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD)
Bill

• Port Infrastructure Development Grants is a new account.




• Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements
  (CRISI) is a new account.




• HUD Economic Development Initiatives (EDIs) are still available
  but their scope is limited to capital improvement and land-related
  initiatives, and certain projects such as health facilities and
  museums are explicitly made ineligible. In addition, where guidance
  was explicit last year in not allowing fire stations, it is silent
  this year.

Earmark Deadlines per Committee

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