The Approps Drop

The Trump administration’s Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 defense budget request represents a historic high watermark and a significant increase from the FY 2026 defense funding level enacted into law—both in raw dollars and in structure. Clients with defense equities should understand both the numbers and the funding mechanics, both of which carry significant implications for authorization (National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)), appropriations (discretionary federal funding) and the potential for a defense reconciliation process (mandatory spending).

During the week of June 8^,both the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (LHHS) and Homeland Security (DHS) bills were passed out of full committee in the House and the Defense appropriations bill held a classified subcommittee session. We will see an open full committee markup on June 24 after next week’s House recess.

The week of June 1 marked forward progress in the House and a lack of progress in the Senate. The House passed the Interior and Transportation, Housing and Urban Development (THUD) bills out of full committee and unveiled its Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies (LHHS) and Homeland Security (DHS) bills for subcommittee markup. We will see reports for those bills released on June 8 and June 9 respectively. The House also considered its second appropriations bill on the floor. The Agriculture/Food and Drug Administration (FDA) bill passed by a vote of 213-210, with just four Democrats voting for the measure. Not nearly as bipartisan as MilConVA.

During the week of May 12, the House passed its first bill of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2027 cycle, advanced a second bill through full committee, and held cabinet-level budget hearings. The Senate held FY 2027 budget hearings as well. The week of May 19 was the last session week before the Memorial Day recess, and it was largely a rinse-and-repeat week during this busy appropriations time of year.