Move Quickly on FY27 Appropriations Requests

Yesterday, the House Appropriations Committee opened its electronic portal for FY27 earmark requests for House members, allowing them to submit programmatic, language, and Community Project Funding (CPF – the House’s designation for earmarks) requests on behalf of their constituents. Deadlines for each House account are below:

Friday, March 13^th:

·       Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration

·       Commerce, Justice, and Science

·       Financial Services and General Government (Programmatic and language requests only)

·       Legislative Branch (Programmatic and language requests only)

·       Military Construction and Veterans Affairs

·       National Security and Department of State (Programmatic and language requests only)

Friday, March 20^th:

·       Defense (Programmatic and language requests only)

·       Energy and Water Development

·       Homeland Security

·       Interior and Environment

·       Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education

·       Transportation and Housing and Urban Development

Note that CPF requests are not available for certain accounts; only programmatic and language requests. Keep in mind that the deadlines above are for members to submit their requests to the Committee. Applicants should submit their requests to their members at least a week before then (and consult with staff to confirm dates).

Be sure to closely follow the Committee’s guidance for submitting Programmatic and Language requests, as well as the general and account-specific guidance for CPF requests.

Be sure to carefully prioritize your CPF requests, as House members are only able to submit 20 of their own requests across the 8 appropriations bills that include Community Project Funding. Also, be sure to properly cite the appropriation statute for the Federal Nexus requirement, which ensures that projects are tied to a federal authorization law.

Although most of the guidance remains the same as previous fiscal years, one notable change for FY27 is that the House is reopening the Labor-HHS account for CPF requests. Specifically, the House is accepting requests for funding through HHS’ Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) for “HRSA-Wide Activities and Program Support.” Funding is generally reserved for health facilities construction and equipment, including limited-scope construction, renovation, or capital equipment purchase for facilities for health, mental health, or substance use disorder services, training of health professionals, or medical research.

Some Senate offices have also quietly begun accepting earmark requests (known as Congressionally Directed Spending or CDS in the Senate), despite the fact that the Senate Appropriations Committee has not released updated guidance. In the past, applicants have been asked to update their requests to align with any new requirements.

Keep in mind that CPFs are generally reserved for projects that have already undergone preliminary or feasibility studies and meet the statutory requirements of the specific programs being used to fund projects (i.e., eligibility criteria, local cost shares, etc.). CPFs are not a duty-free check – they require extensive coordination and reporting with the awarding agency on the backend.