FY 2012 Appropriations Completed

On December 17, 2011, the Senate followed the House’s lead and approved the second and final appropriations bill for fiscal year (FY) 2012, a “megabus” that includes funding for nine separate appropriations bills: Defense, Energy-Water, Financial Services, Homeland Security (DHS), Interior-Environment, Labor-Health and Human Services (HHS)-Education (ED), Legislative Branch, Military-Veterans Affairs, and State-Foreign Operations. The bill (H.R. 2055) was accompanied by a fifth continuing resolution (CR, H.J. Res 95) to fund the government through December 23, 2011, pending the president’s signature of the megabus legislation. A companion bill providing $6.4 billion for disaster relief also was approved (H.R. 3672). (A third bill would have offset the cost of that disaster relief through an across-the-board [ATB] cut to all FY 2012 discretionary funding [H.R. 3673]. It was approved by the House but not the Senate.)

With the “minibus” that passed last month (P.L. 112-55), appropriations for FY 2012 are now complete (see Budget Brief 11-16 for a summary of the minibus). Table 1, FFIS’s Jim Martin Table, summarizes FY 2012 funding levels for major programs of importance to states. While a few programs received funding increases, Education is the only department listed on the table to receive a net increase in FY 2012. This brief provides more detail on the relevant provisions of the megabus for state grant programs.