2026 Appropriations Tracker

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The annual appropriations process begins each year with the president submitting a budget request to Congress, outlining the administration's priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. The NACo 2026 Appropriations Tracker provides counties with a comprehensive overview of the federal appropriations process, tracking the progress of key spending bills and offering insights on how these will impact county funding and services.

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The annual appropriations process begins each year with the president submitting a budget request to Congress, outlining the administration's priorities for the upcoming fiscal year. The U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Committee then each hold a series of budget hearings with the heads of the various federal agencies and the House and Senate adopt a budget resolution outlining the topline spending limits for the respective fiscal year. Unlike the prior two federal fiscal years, Fiscal Year (FY) 2026 discretionary spending limits are not bound to statutory spending caps enforced by sequestration.

The House and Senate Appropriations Committee then adopt topline spending limits for each of the 12 spending bills (known as “subcommittee allocations”) and each of the subcommittees draft their spending bills in line with these limits. The 12 annual spending bills are considered at both the subcommittee and full-committee level before advancing to the full chamber for a vote. After appropriations bills are passed by both chambers of the U.S. Congress, appropriators and party leadership from each chamber enter negotiations through a “conference committee” where differences between the bills are resolved. Both the U.S. House and Senate must then pass the agreed-to spending bills before they are sent to the President’s desk for signature.  

Counties rely on federal funds determined through the annual appropriations process to provide vital services to our residents. As such, we urge Congress and the President to commit to working together to reach an agreement on all spending legislation by Oct. 1 of each year.  

FY 2026 Appropriations Status

U.S. House of Representatives

On June 5, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee began holding markups of FY 2026 spending legislation.  

On July 17, the U.S. House Appropriations Committee adopted their full FY 2026 subcommittee allocations by a party-line vote of 35-26. The $1.598 trillion topline spending level guiding the House Committee represents a $45 billion topline spending decrease as compared to FY 2025. For FY 2026, defense spending is allocated $895.2 billion, about level with FY 2025, and non-defense spending is allocated $705.6 billion, an approximately 6 percent cut from FY 2025.  

On July 18, the full U.S. House passed the first of 12 FY 2026 spending bills, voting 221-209 to clear the Defense spending bill for the upcoming fiscal year.  

U.S. Senate 

On July 10, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee began work on their FY 2026 spending bills as a full committee, forgoing subcommittee consideration as the committee has done in the past. As of July 21, the Senate committee has not adopted topline subcommittee allocations.  

Bill Name House Bill House Subcommittee House Committee House Initial Passage Senate Bill Senate Subcommittee Senate Committee Senate Initial Passage Resolves Differences Presidential Approval County Impact

Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies 

H.R. 4121 

9-7
06/05/2025

35-27
06/23/2025

S. 2256

N/A

27-0
07/10/2025
County priorities in FY 2026 include:
  • Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC):
    • $7.6 billion in the House, level with current funding
    • $8.2 billion in the Senate, an increase of $600 million over current funding
  • Discretionary rural development programs:
    • $3.77 billion in the House, a $299 million increase over current levels
    • $3.68 billion in the Senate, $245 million above current levels
  • Rural E-Connectivity (ReConnect) Program
    • $90.75 million in the House, level with current levels
    • $35 million in the Senate, a $55.75 million decrease from current levels but includes $20 million for the related Community Connects Grant Program
Advocacy
  • NACo’s letter to the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Committees can be found here.
  • U.S. House Appropriations Committee summary here.
  • U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee summary here.
     

Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies 
 

TBD

9-6
07/15/2025

S. 2354

Voice Vote
07/09/2025

19-10
07/17/2025
County priorities in FY 2026 include: 
  • State and Local Law Enforcement Grants
    • Over $4 billion in the House, including:  
      • $256 million for COPS Hiring program
      • $402.8 million for the Byrne-JAG program
      • $234 million for the State Criminal Alien Assistance Program (SCAAP)
      • $40 million for Justice and Mental Health Collaboration Program (JMHCP)
      • $89 million for Drug Courts
      • $32 million for Veterans Treatment Courts
      • $189 million for the Comprehensive Opioid Stimulant and Substance Use Disorder Program
      •  $40 million for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA)
      • $106 million for Second Chance Act
    • Over $2.6 billion in the Senate, including:
      • $152 million for Byrne-JAG program
      • $116 million for the Second Chance Act
      • $206 million for the COPS Hiring Program
      • $40 million for JMHCP
      • $185 million for the Comprehensive Opioid Stimulant and Substance Use Disorder Program
      • $55 million for the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA)
      • $89 million for Drug Courts
      • $34 million for Veterans Treatment Courts
  • Economic Development Administration:
    • $324.5 million in the House, approximately $143.5 million below current funding
    • $426 million in the Senate, about $42 million below current funding
Advocacy
  • NACo’s letter to the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Committees can be found here.
  • U.S. House Appropriations Committee summary here.
  • U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee summary here.
     

Defense

H.R. 4016

Voice Vote
06/10/2025

36-27
06/12/2025

221-209
07/18/2025

S. 2572

N/A

26-3
07/31/2025

Energy and Water Development, and Related Agencies 

H.R. 4553

9-6
07/14/2025

35-27
07/17/2025
County priorities in FY 2026 include: 
  • U.S. Army Corps of Engineers:
    • $9.8 billion in the House, an increase of $1 billion above current funding
  • U.S. Department of Energy (DOE):
    • $48.8 billion for DOE in the House, a decrease of $1.4 billion from the current level
      • $180 million for Energy Weatherization Assistance Program, a decrease of $58 million from current funding levels
Advocacy
  • NACo’s letter to the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Committees can be found here.
  • U.S. House Appropriations Committee summary here.
     

Financial Services and General Government 

TBD

9-6
07/21/2025
County priorities in FY 2026 include: 
  • Election Security Grants
    • $15 million in the House, level with funding provided in the full-year FY 2025 CR
  • U.S. Election Assistance Commission
    • $17 million in the House, approximately $10 million less than current funding
  • ARPA State and Local Fiscal Recovery Fund:
    • The House bill includes a provision that prohibits funds appropriated to the U.S. Treasury in FY 2026 from being used to implement and/or enforce ARPA SLFRF
Advocacy
  • NACo’s letter to the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Committees can be found here.
  • U.S. House Appropriations Committee summary here.

 

Homeland Security 

H.R. 4213

8-4
06/09/2025

36-27
06/24/2025
County priorities for FY 2026 include: 
  • Disaster Relief Fund (DRF):
    • $26.5 billion in the House, a $4 billion increase over FY25
  • FEMA Preparedness Grants:
    • The House returns most FEMA grant programs, including the Urban Area Security Initiative, Emergency Management Performance Grant, State Homeland Security Grant Program and others to FY23 levels following cuts to these programs  
    • The House eliminates FEMA's Shelter and Services Program and redistributes these dollars to the other FEMA programs, which is how they were able to increase them back to FY23 levels.
  • State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program:
    • The House does not include funding or a reauthorization of the State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program
  • Information Sharing:
    • The House does not include funding to restore neither the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) nor the Election-Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center (EI-ISAC)
       
Advocacy
  • NACo’s letter to the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Committees can be found here.
  • U.S. House Appropriations Committee summary here.
     

Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies 

TBD

8-5
07/15/2025

33-28
07/22/2025

TBD

N/A

26-2
07/24/2025
County priorities for FY 2026 include: 
  • Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILT)
    • The House funds at $550 million, which the committee estimates to be full funding and is a $94.8 million reduction from the FY 2025 amount distributed earlier this year
    • The Senate fully funds the PILT program by reauthorizing it for one year, allowing payments to be made according to the statutory formula without specifying a dollar amount
  • U.S. Forest Service (USFS)
    • $8.54 billion in the House, a $16.8 million decrease from current levels
      • Includes $3.63 billion for non-fire accounts, such as $301.8 million for Forest and Rangeland Research and $281 million for State, Private and Tribal Forestry
      • Authorizes a $2.48 billion fire suppression cap adjustment in accordance with current law
      • $8.6 billion in the Senate, level with current funding
      • Includes $2.42 billion for non-fire accounts
  • Wildland Fire Management
    • $4 billion in the House
    • $6.4 billion in the Senate including nearly $2.9 billion made available through the wildfire suppression cap adjustment
  • U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA):
    • $7 billion for EPA in the House, approximately $2.1 billion below the current level
    • $8.6 billion in the Senate, approximately $500 million less than current funding
  • Clean Water & Drinking Water State Revolving Funds:
    • $2.1 billion in the House, a $700 million reduction from current funding
    • $2.8 billion in the Senate, level with current funding
  • Brownfields Program
    • $84.7 million in the House,  $14 million below the current funding levels
    • $98 million in the Senate, level with current funding 
Advocacy
  • NACo’s letter to the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Committees can be found here.
  • U.S. House Appropriations Committee summary here.
  • U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee summary here.

 

Legislative Branch 
 

H.R. 4249

6-4
06/23/2025

34-28
06/26/2025

S. 2257

N/A

26-1
07/10/2025

Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies 

S. 2587

N/A

26-3
07/31/2025

Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies 

H.R. 3944

9-6
06/05/2025

36-27
06/10/2025

218-206
06/25/2025

TBD

N/A

26-3
07/17/2025

State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs 

TBD

8-5
07/15/2025

35-27
07/23/2025

Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies 
 

H.R. 4552

9-7
07/14/2025

35-28
07/17/2025

TBD

N/A

27-1
07/24/2025
County priorities for FY 2026 include: 
  • HOME Investment Partnership Program
    • The House zeroes out this program
    • $1.25 billion in the Senate, level with current funding
  • Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)
    • $3.3 billion in the House, level with current funding
    • $3.1 billion in the Senate, approximately $200 million less than current funding
  • Transportation Programs:
    • The House bill would reprogram already-appropriated funds from the IIJA from their original purpose to other programs including $1 billion in National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) funds to the FAA Facilities & Equipment Account and $200 million from the Reconnecting Communities Pilot Program to the Tribal Transportation Program
    • The House bill significantly reduces or cuts funds entirely for several programs receiving advance appropriations through IIJA including $57 million for the Capital Improvements Grants (CIG) program and $0 for the BUILD grant program
    • The Senate would not reprogram already-appropriated funds from IIJA and would provide additional funds to programs receiving advance appropriations including $1.95 billion for the CIG program and $250 million for BUILD
    • $78 million in the Senate to support public transit agencies in World Cup host regions
    • $514 million in both the House and Senate for the Essential Air Service (EAS) program, an increase of approximately $165.5 million above current funding
       
Advocacy
  • NACo’s letter to the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Committees can be found here.
  • U.S. House Appropriations Committee summary here.
  • U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee summary here.