House appropriators are planning to hold full committee markups next week for the four bills already reported out of their subcommittees: agriculture, homeland security, legislative branch, and military construction/veterans affairs. Senate appropriators also want to get a jump on their annual appropriations bills considerations for the upcoming fiscal year later this month, possibly the week of June 19, with the agriculture and military construction-veterans affairs bills tentatively slated to be first out of the gate.

The debt ceiling package that recently became law set overall spending caps for fiscal years 2024 and 2025, which in theory was the missing piece appropriators needed to get started with the process. However, House Speaker McCarthy has indicated that he will allow House appropriators to write spending bills at lower levels than the caps mandated by the debt-limit deal, which could make reconciling the House and Senate appropriations bills more difficult.

Lawmakers are eager to avoid an automatic 1% cut that would go into effect if Congress fails to pass all 12 appropriations bills by January 1, 2024.