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	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	34-28 09/10/2025		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	214-213 09/04/2025					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	35-28 09/03/2025						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 the Multi-State Information Sharing and Analysis Center (MS-ISAC) or 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	H.R. 4754	8-5 07/15/2025	33-28 07/22/2025		S. 2431	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	81-15 08/01/2025
Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies	TBD	11-7 09/02/2025	35-28 09/09/2025		S. 2587	N/A	26-3 07/31/2025		County priorities for FY 2026 include: Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) $116.6 billion in the Senate, including: $1.9 billion for the Substance Use Prevention, Treatment & Recovery Block Grant, a $40 million increase over FY 2025 $1.6 billion for State Opioid Response Grants, a $25 million increase over FY 2025 $145 million for Rural Communities Opioid Response Program, level funding from FY 2025 $1 Billion for the Mental Health Block Grant, level funding from FY 2025 $385 million for the Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers (CCBHC) Program, a $0.5 million increase over FY 2025 $128.6 million for the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), level funding over FY 2025 $813.70 million for the Maternal and Child Health Block Grant $157.20 million for the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative $534.6 million for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s suicide prevention Lifeline, 988 $735 million, or level funding, for public health emergency preparedness cooperative agreement $160 million, or level funding, for the Preventive Health and Health Services block grant $8.8 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), an $85 million increase over FY 2025 $12.4 billion for Head Start, an $85 million increase from FY 2025 $4.05 billion for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP), a $20 million increase over fiscal year 2025 $2.53 billion for the Administration for Community Living (ACL), which is in charge of administering the Older Americans Act (OAA) $770 million for the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), level from FY 2025 $773.2 million for Title IV-B Child and Family Services, including $482.5 for the Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) program, $268.7 million for the Child Welfare Services Program (CWS) and $22 million for Child Welfare Research, Training, and Demonstration projects $105 million for the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Grant (CAPTA) program $44.3 million for the Chafee Education and Training Voucher Program $108 billion in the House, including: $3.93 billion for combined substance use disorder treatment and prevention services (Substance Use Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery block grant included in this funding but no specific appropriation levels mentioned) $1.575 billion for State Opioid Response Grants, level funding from FY 2025, 25 million less than House request $145 million for Rural Communities Opioid Response Program, level funding from FY 2025 $2.67 billion for combined mental health services (mental health block grant included in this funding but no specific appropriation levels mentioned) $385 million for the Certified Community Behavioral Health Centers (CCBHC) Program, a $0.5 million increase over FY 2025, level to House request $130 million for the National Health Service Corps (NHSC), $2.4 million more than FY25 and house funding request $985 million for the Maternal and Child Health programs (block grant funding included but no specific appropriations mentioned);a decrease of $185 million from the FY25 enacted level. This includes the elimination of the Healthy Start program. $502 million for the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration’s suicide prevention Lifeline, 988 Eliminates funding for the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant, a decrease of $160 million from the FY25 enacted level $8.7 billion for the Child Care and Development Block Grant (CCDBG), level with funding from from FY 2025 $12.3 billion for Head Start $776 million for the Community Services Block Grant (CSBG), a $6 million increase Department of Labor $2.9 billion for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) formula grants, with most programs receiving level funding. Title I Adult formula funds would be reduced by $10 million and Reentry Employment Opportunities (REO) by $5 million. $1.76 billion for JobCorps. Department of Education $79 billion in the Senate, including: $18.46 billion for Title I-A, a $50 million increase over FY 2025 $15.2 billion for the Individuals with Disabilities Education (IDEA) Act, a $50 million increase over FY 2025 $67 billion in the House, a $12 billion decrease over FY 2025, including; $13.21 billion for Title I-A, a $5.2 billion decrease from FY 2025 $15.2 billion for the IDEA Act Advocacy NACo’s letter to the U.S. House and Senate Appropriations Committees can be found here. U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee summary here. U.S. House Appropriations Committee summary here.
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	87-9 08/01/2025
State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs	H.R. 4779	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		S. 2465	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.

2026 Appropriations Tracker

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FY 2026 Appropriations Status

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Senate

County priorities in FY 2026 include:

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County priorities in FY 2026 include:

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County priorities in FY 2026 include:

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County priorities in FY 2026 include:

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County priorities for FY 2026 include:

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County priorities for FY 2026 include:

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County priorities for FY 2026 include:

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County priorities for FY 2026 include:

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