Every year, Congress is required to consider 12 separate bills to fund the federal government. These bills, which fund agencies such as the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS)—and subagencies within DHS such as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP)—as well as the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) within the U.S. Department of Justice, have an enormous impact on immigration and immigration enforcement. However, despite the significance of these bills for immigration policy, the “appropriations process” is opaque and unclear to the general public. This fact sheet aims to explain the basics of the federal appropriations process, and to show how it affects the world of immigration.
How Does the Appropriations Process Work?
Article 1, Section 9, of the U.S. Constitution states, “No Money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law.” Under the Constitution, Congress is the decision-maker on how the federal government spends money. However, the Trump administration has recently advanced a fringe theory that claims that the executive branch has substantial authority to decide how the federal government spends money. Several cases are currently pending in the courts that address various actions by the executive branch to withhold or delay funds appropriated by Congress.
Nevertheless, all government funding bills, also known as appropriations bills, must originate in the House of Representatives before they can be signed into law. However, although the final government funding bill will originate in the House of Representatives, the Senate also has its own government funding process and produces its own bills.
To carry out this process, each year the House and Senate prepare appropriations bills for the upcoming fiscal year. Fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. For example, Fiscal Year (FY) 2025 runs from October 1, 2024, through September 30, 2025.
If disagreements arise once the House and Senate have both passed a bill funding a particular department, the two chambers will engage in a “conference” and hash out the differences before reaching a final agreement. Both chambers of Congress will then vote on the final bill(s).
If Congress cannot reach an agreement on funding the federal government, Congress typically passes a “continuing resolution” to extend the previous year’s budget until a new one can be passed. Continuing resolutions have become increasingly common in recent years. Under a continuing resolution, the funding levels set in the previous year remain the same, although some changes can be made which are known as “anomalies.”
If Congress does not pass the necessary appropriations bills or a continuing resolution, a government shutdown takes place.
By law, the president is required to submit a formal budget request for the federal government to Congress between the first Monday in January and the first Monday in February. In practice, the president often misses this deadline and there is no statutory consequence mandating action. In transition years, new administrations may first publish a “skinny” budget to outline their upcoming priorities before publishing their formal budget.
The annual budget process, however, starts years before a final government funding bill is passed. First, agencies spend over a year preparing budget projections and assembling the president’s formal budget request to Congress. This means that government agencies began preparing a budget for FY 2025 during FY 2023. Agencies determine what their spending needs are for each budget line item, such as staffing, capital investment, and new planned operations. This process is carried out in coordination with the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), a White House office that coordinates federal budget policy. Each agency’s budget request, along with accompanying information, is compiled into “Congressional Budget Justifications,” which the President then submits to Congress as a full budget proposal. Because Congress holds the power of the purse, presidential budgets are non-binding and reflect the executive branch’s policy priorities and recommendations to Congress.
Each Congressional Budget Justification contains detailed information about the operations of the agency and the costs involved in running it. For example, the FY 2025 ICE Congressional Budget Justification contains information such as the average daily cost of detaining an immigrant ($187.48), and the average daily population and the direct costs of detaining noncitizens in different geographic areas of responsibility. Congressional Budget Justifications can be an invaluable tool for individuals seeking an in-depth understanding of the operation of government agencies.
After the president’s budget is published (usually in February), Congress formally begins the process of passing government funding bills. Each chamber has an appropriations committee which is tasked with fully funding the federal government, and each appropriations committee contains subcommittees that work on funding different federal departments or agencies. For example, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Homeland Security produces a funding bill that covers the entire Department of Homeland Security, including ICE and CBP. Each chamber of Congress has 12 appropriations subcommittees, which—combined—cover the federal government’s discretionary budget:
The majority of immigration-related appropriations occur in the Homeland Security Subcommittee, which covers DHS and the immigration agencies within it: CBP, ICE, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). EOIR, which houses the immigration courts, falls within the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Subcommittee. Funding for visa processing at U.S. embassies and consulates abroad falls within the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee (renamed the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Subcommittee in the House for the 119th Congress). Funding for the Office of Refugee Resettlement, which covers the unaccompanied children program and helps resettle refugees from around the world, is part of the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.
By law, the annual government funding process formally begins with each chamber passing a budget resolution allocating a set amount of money, known as a “302(a)” allocation, that can be used on discretionary spending (i.e. funding which is not required by law, such as payments on government debt). This is the total amount of money that can be spent in the funding bill. Sometimes, however, the chambers may not come to an agreement and may use other legislative procedures, also known as “deeming resolutions,” to separately establish overall budgetary levels. For example, in June 2022 the House passed a deeming resolution that allocated $1.603 trillion dollars for discretionary spending for the FY 2023 budget. Regardless of the mechanism, each chamber’s appropriations committee will then divide this pot of money among the 12 respective subcommittees, allocating a set amount of funding to each one to use for the agencies within each subcommittee’s jurisdiction (known as a “302(b)” allocation).
To produce a bill, each subcommittee will hold hearings with the heads of each agency within its jurisdiction in order to question them on the president’s formal budget requests. Individual members of Congress can also influence the process by requesting the inclusion or exclusion of specific items in the ultimate government funding bill. Members of the public can contribute requests as well, either through individual members of Congress or through requests to the relevant committees or subcommittees.
Along with a formal bill to be passed into law, each subcommittee also produces a “committee report,” which is an explanatory statement accompanying the bill. The committee report contains greater detail about the intent of Congress in the bill. These committee reports are quasi-legal in that they are not voted on by Congress, but—in the words of the Congressional Research Service: “agencies are generally expected to comply with a report’s directives.”
For example, the Homeland Security spending bill generally provides only top-line budget amounts for CBP, ICE, and USCIS, while the committee report breaks down funding for specific components of each agency. As a result, the only way to determine how much money Congress is appropriating for ICE’s detention capacity, included under the “Custody Operations” division, is to consult the committee report.
After each subcommittee has produced a bill, it will then be voted on in the full committee. If it passes, then the bill goes to the floor for passage. Appropriations bills may either be passed individually or combined into a “minibus” or an “omnibus” spending bill. This process generally occurs in the House between April and July, and in the Senate from spring to the late summer.
The appropriations bill then goes onto the House floor for debate and passage. Usually, the House Rules Committee approves a special rule, which establishes the terms and conditions that govern the initial floor consideration of the bill. Members may offer amendments based on the structure established by the special rule. Once debate has concluded and all amendments have been voted on, the House votes on the bill. If it passes, the bill is sent to the Senate.
When an appropriations bill goes onto the Senate floor, it also goes through a period of debate and amendment. The Senate has its own specific rules for what kinds of amendments may be offered on appropriations bills. Individual senators may offer amendments to be voted on during this process. Once debate is complete, the Senate votes on the bill.
Once each chamber has passed a spending bill, the next step is a “conference” between the two chambers to iron out any differences between the two bills. This is generally done through a “conference committee” made up of members of the House and Senate. The conference committee then sends the conference bill to the House and Senate for a vote. If either chamber rejects the conference bill, it is sent back to the conference committee. The conference committee also produces its own joint explanatory statement that may supplement or override the committee reports produced by the House and Senate.
Once the final version of the conference bill has been agreed upon, it is brought to a vote in the House and Senate. If both chambers pass the bill, it goes to the president’s desk to be signed into law.
In addition, “rescissions” may be used to seek the repeal of previously authorized appropriations. While Congress can initiate rescissions on its own by including language in new appropriations bills or other legislation, the Impoundment Control Act of 1974 (“ICA”) authorizes the president to propose rescissions by transmitting a special message to Congress identifying the amounts to be rescinded and the reasons for doing so. These proposed rescissions do not take effect unless Congress enacts a rescission bill within 45 legislative days of continuous session (as defined by the ICA) by a simple majority vote in both the House and the Senate.
What Role Does the Public Play in the Government Funding Process?
The general public has a number of opportunities to weigh in before a bill is eventually passed. These opportunities can be broadly divided into three major periods:
- Before the House and Senate consider each respective chamber’s bill.
- When the bill is being considered in committee.
- After the bill has passed through the House and the Senate.
During each of these periods, different forms of advocacy may be helpful in effecting change in the bill.
Advocacy before a bill is formally considered.
Advocacy during this stage of the appropriations process can occur in many different ways. Some people may wish to approach the OMB or individual government agencies before the president’s budget is released in February, in order to provide suggestions and input. Historically, many agencies have provided stakeholder meeting opportunities throughout the year that allow advocates and other members of the public to weigh in on the agency’s operations. Because the president’s budget sets the overall tone for Congress, the president’s inclusion or exclusion of specific line items, or proposals to reduce or increase an agency’s budget, can be highly influential to Congress. Advocacy with congressional appropriators is also a way for the public to influence the government funding process. Meeting with members of Congress who are on the House or Senate Appropriations Committees or relevant subcommittees, or with committee staff, can help appropriators understand complicated issues and learn about new ideas, either before a bill is formally introduced or while it is under consideration. For example, advocates supporting immigrants have called for the inclusion of language in government funding bills which would provide lawyers for immigrants facing deportation who cannot afford to hire counsel.
Finally, advocacy with individual legislators is also important prior to the introduction of a government funding bill. During the early stages of the appropriations process, committees provide members of Congress with a broad opportunity to request specific line items to be included in the bill. These requests are not binding, and the committees do not necessarily accept them, but they are the primary means by which members of Congress who are not on appropriations committees can influence government funding. This process usually occurs in March and April, shortly after the president’s budget is published.
As part of this process, many members of Congress have created specific procedures for members of the public to submit requests for the inclusion of specific items in government funding bills. A Congressional office may have its own independent mechanism for accepting these submissions, such as submission of comments on its official website or the use of Google Forms. These opportunities usually end in the spring.
Advocacy occurring before a bill has been produced and submitted to a vote by the House or Senate Appropriations Committee or subcommittee is often the most impactful. In the world of immigration, advocacy with the Homeland Security Subcommittee; the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies Subcommittee; the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies Subcommittee; and the State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs Subcommittee (in the Senate) or the National Security, Department of State, and Related Programs Subcommittee (in the House) are most likely to produce results.
Advocacy while a bill is being considered in committee.
Once the House and Senate have produced a bill, usually in the summer or fall, advocates may lobby for the inclusion of specific amendments which modify the text of the bill. Most of these amendments are offered when a bill is being considered in the relevant subcommittee, so advocates generally focus their efforts on members of Congress who serve on that subcommittee. Advocates may also push Congress to reject the bill entirely.
Advocacy after a bill is passed through the House and Senate.
Once both the House and the Senate have passed their government funding bills, those bills will often go through a “conference” process to resolve differences between them. Because conference negotiations require both chambers of Congress to come to a compromise, advocates may lobby individual members of the relevant conference committee or committee staff to include or exclude specific provisions that are in one bill but not the other, or to modify the text of the bill to address concerns that were raised after the bills were first passed. However, the conference process is unlikely to produce results that are significantly different than what passed the House and Senate originally.
The Impact of Government Funding Bills on Immigration
Although the legal immigration system is largely supported by fees on applications and petitions, and not funding passed by Congress in appropriations bills, other parts of the immigration system—immigration enforcement in particular—are impacted significantly by funding bills. For example, the base level of funding for ICE’s “Custody Operations” budget theoretically determines how many immigrants can be held in detention centers each year. However, ICE has detained more immigrants than Congress has funded by pulling money from other parts of the DHS budget. Funding levels also determine if sections of a border wall can be built, or how many Border Patrol and ICE agents can be hired. As a result, advocates have often pushed Congress to lower the overall budget for immigration enforcement agencies, which has grown significantly over the last two decades.
Even though the legal immigration system is mostly fee-funded, Congress can also support the system in times of increased backlogs through the appropriations process. For example, in the FY 2023 budget, Congress approved $133 million to fund “backlog reduction” at USCIS. And in FY 2024, Congress approved $160 million for application processing.
Government funding bills have also proven to be a resource for establishing some safeguards on immigration enforcement. For example, in FY 2019, Congress included language preventing ICE from using information shared by the Office of Refugee Resettlement to target individuals who come forward to sponsor an unaccompanied child being held in a government shelter.
Congress has also used government funding bills to promote transparency in immigration processes. After members of Congress were barred from entering facilities holding migrant children in 2018, Congress included language requiring DHS to admit members of Congress into those facilities to conduct oversight. Other notable transparency provisions included in government funding bills include a requirement that ICE post detailed weekly data on immigrants held in ICE detention, and that USCIS produce a quarterly report detailing its efforts to reduce the backlog of asylum application.
