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Author: Scarinci Hollenbeck, LLC
Date: April 11, 2022
The Firm
201-896-4100 info@sh-law.comCongress recently announced that earmarks will be back for Fiscal Year 2023 in the form of Community Project Funding. Both the House and Senate have released guidance on how funding may be requested and what accounts and projects will be eligible.
After a lengthy hiatus, congressionally-directed spending (better known as earmarks) returned to Congress last year. As discussed in greater detail here, Congress enacted a series of reforms to improve transparency and accountability. The new Community Project Funding process, which allows members of Congress to target federal funds towards projects and programs in their respective congressional districts, was launched last year and was generally well-received by members of both parties.
Following President Joe Biden’s signing of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022 into law, both the House and Senate Appropriations Committees have issued guidance regarding the FY 2023 earmark process.
For FY 2023, the Senate Appropriations Committee will accept appropriations requests of two different types:
The Senate Appropriations Committee guidance includes links to eligible agencies and accounts. It also includes the deadlines for both Programmatic Requests/ Bill and Report Language Requests and requests for Congressionally Directed Spending.
In line with the reforms instituted last year, there is a one percent cap on discretionary spending for congressionally directed spending items. The Committee will not fund CDS to for-profit entities, and each member must certify in the cover letter accompanying their request that none of the entities for which they have requested CDS is a for-profit entity. Additionally, senators are required to publish their requests to their website as well as submit and make public a financial disclosure letter certifying that they do not have any financial interest in the items requested.
New for FY 2023, Congressional offices must post this information to their website 15 calendar days after submitting their requests to the Committee. According to the guidance, providing 15 days between making a request and posting it on a Member’s website will allow subcommittee staff to review requests and make sure they are properly categorized as a request for congressionally directed spending.
As set forth in the guidance issued by the House Committee on Appropriations, Members may submit up to 15 requests (up from 10 requests last year), excluding programmatic and language requests, across all Subcommittees. The guidance also emphasizes that community engagement and support is “crucial in determining which projects are worthy of Federal funding,” and only projects with demonstrated community support will be considered. Additionally, Members will be required to present to the Committee evidence of community support that were compelling factors in their decision to submit the request. Examples of these include, but are not limited to:
Generally, House and Senate subcommittees will consider the following when evaluating funding requests:
The resurrection of earmarks creates new funding opportunities for nonprofits and local governments. However, it is important to note that the process will be competitive, with numerous applicants vying for a relatively small pool of funds. Deadlines are also quickly approaching, so the time to act is now.
If you have any questions or if you would like to discuss the matter further, please contact me, Teddy Eynon, or the Scarinci Hollenbeck attorney with whom you work, at 201-896-4100.
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