Policy Briefing: Appropriations Bill H.R. 2471

Mar 30, 2022

Every year, Congress decides where taxpayer funds shall be appropriated. The most recent appropriations bill, H.R. 2471 passed with bipartisan support in the House and Senate. The package included a number of important policy and funding provisions that are highlighted below.

No money shall be drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of appropriations made by law.¹

One of the United States Congress’ most basic and important Constitutional functions is passing an annual appropriations bill that allocates federal taxpayer funding for different purposes. Despite a number of political challenges, policy differences and process disagreements, Congress has managed to consider and pass an annual appropriations package to fund federal government operations. Oftentimes, however, that process is delayed and may end in an omnibus package that groups many or all of the appropriations bills into one larger package. This was the case for the Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations cycle.

On March 15, 2022, the annual government funding battle for Fiscal Year 2022 finally came to a close with an omnibus appropriations bill (H.R. 2471, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022) being signed into law. This ended a process that included four temporary funding bills (called Continuing Resolutions) and none of the thirteen individual appropriations bills being passed by the United States Senate. In fact, only four of the individual appropriations bills were even considered by the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Ultimately, the package passed by a bipartisan vote in both the House and the Senate. Members of the Republican Governance Group were essential to the passage of the package with almost all members supporting Divisions B,C,F,X,Z, titles 2&3 of Division N² and making up more than 50 percent of the Republican YEA votes for the Remaining Divisions³.

The package included a number of important policy and funding provisions that are highlighted below.

1. National Defense

Military funding increases during a time of uncertainty – For Fiscal Year 2022, the Appropriations package includes $728.5 billion for defense spending, an increase of $32.5 billion⁴. This is a huge victory for Republicans as it is more than $22 billion more than the Democrats had initially proposed⁵. At a time of global uncertainty, war in eastern Europe, aggressive posturing from China and continued turmoil in the Middle East, it is more important than ever that the United States maintain its military strength. This legislation sends a strong message that a strong American military continues to be a top priority for this country.
Ukraine aid – The package includes $13.6 billion in military and humanitarian aid for Ukraine and its European allies⁶. Roughly half of that funding will be used to arm and equip the Ukrainians and pay the costs for sending U.S. troops to bolster NATO nations in Eastern Europe. Most of the remainder will go to humanitarian relief such as food assistance, health care, and migration and refugee assistance.
Pay raise for troops – The law provides for a 2.7% increase in military pay⁷.

2. Medical Research and Innovation

Republicans have long been strong supporters of life-saving medical innovation and the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Even during times of divided government and fiscal tightening, Republicans have led the charge to ensure that the federal government is adequately investing in medical research and technology⁸. The Fiscal Year 2022 package continues this commitment to the NIH and the search for new treatments and cures. The bill provides $45 billion for NIH, an increase of $2.25 billion above the FY 2021 level⁹. This reflects increases in a number of NIH institutes and initiatives including:

The National Cancer Institute;
For Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias research;
The Centers for AIDS Research as part of the Ending the HIV Epidemic Initiative;
Implementation of the Accelerating Access to Critical Therapies for ALS Act;
Implementing a Maternal Health and Pregnancy Outcomes Vision for Everyone (IMPROVE) initiative; and
Research related to opioids, stimulants, and pain/pain management;

3. Education

In total, H.R. 2471 provided a 5% increase in funding for K-12 education programs over 2021 enacted levels¹⁰. This increase is important to meeting the needs of low-income students and students with disabilities. While the overall funding increase for education programs is below the 41% increase that the Biden Administration had proposed, the increase for Title I is the largest for the program in more than a decade¹¹. The bill specifically provides for:

$17.5 billion for Title I Grants to Local Educational Agencies, an increase of $1 billion above the FY 2021 enacted level; and
$14.5 billion for Special Education, an increase of $448 million above the FY 2021 enacted level.

Title I provides financial assistance to schools with high numbers or high percentages of children from low-income families to help ensure that all children meet challenging state academic standards. Title I is the primary means for providing federal funding for elementary and secondary education in the United States, serving more than 26 million students per year¹².

The Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) is a law that makes available a free public education to eligible children with disabilities. IDEA helps to provide education and related services to more than 7.5 million eligible infants, toddlers, children, and youth with disabilities¹³. When IDEA was enacted, it was envisioned that federal funds should cover up to 40% of the excess cost of educating students with disabilities. However, the percentage of costs covered by the federal government is around 16%¹⁴.

4. Support for Israel

The Appropriations package reaffirms America’s long-standing commitment to supporting and defending Israel and it seeks to build on the successes of the Abraham Accords, President Trump’s Middle East peace initiative, between Israel and the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. In fact, some have said that the package “may well be the most pro-Israel legislation ever passed.¹⁵” Specifically, the package included:

$3.3 billion in annual security assistance to Israel;
$1 billion in supplemental funding for the Iron Dome;
$500 million for US-Israel cooperation on defensive missiles like the Arrow and David’s Sling; and
the Israel Relations Normalization Act of 2022 which states that U.S. policy is to strengthen and expand normalization agreements (like the Abraham Accords). It also requires coordination throughout the United States government, specifically the Department of State, the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Agency for International Development.¹⁶

5.Pro-Life:

The final appropriations package includes so-called “Hyde Amendment” barring the use of federal funding for abortion. Specifically, Division H Title V Section 506, of H.R. 2471 states:

None of the funds appropriated in this Act, and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are appropriated in this Act, shall be expended for any abortion.
None of the funds appropriated in this Act, and none of the funds in any trust fund to which funds are appropriated in this Act, shall be expended for health benefits coverage that includes coverage of abortion.¹⁷

The legislation does include protections for women who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest or if the life of the woman is at risk”¹⁸ . House Democrats did not include the Hyde Amendment language in their original Appropriations package, H.R. 4502, that passed the House without any Republican support”¹⁹ . This is notable because the Hyde Amendment language has been a constant in federal Appropriations legislation since it first took effect in 1980. Prior to that, it is estimated that the joint federal-state Medicaid program was paying for roughly 300,000 abortions annually”²⁰ . A recent estimate by Michael New, PhD of the Charlotte Lozier Institute, the research arm of Susan B. Anthony List, found that the Hyde Amendment has saved more than 2.4 million lives since its implementation”²¹ . In an annual poll conducted by the Knights of Columbus/Marist gauging Americans’ opinions on abortion, it found that 54% of Americans oppose or strongly oppose “using tax dollars to pay for a woman’s abortion.”²²