President Biden’s budget plan will not be reaching Capitol Hill for at least another month, marking the fourth consecutive year that he has missed the statutory deadline for submitting a spending plan in early February. The delay has drawn criticism from Republican House Budget Committee members, but it’s worth noting that each of the last four presidents has missed this filing deadline at least once during their time in office.
The upcoming budget proposal is further complicated by the fact that lawmakers have not yet finalized their work on the fiscal 2024 budget, even though the new fiscal year began on October 1. Biden’s fiscal 2025 budget plan is scheduled to be released just three days after the next deadline for Congress to pass a funding extension or risk triggering a partial government shutdown.
In the midst of this budgetary uncertainty, various committees in the House of Representatives will conduct hearings on a range of important issues. The House Foreign Affairs Committee will hold hearings on topics such as the Australia-UK-US Partnership, threats to democratic rights in Nigeria, and the challenges posed by Houthi fighters in the Middle East. The House Judiciary Committee will focus on crime surveillance and the operations of the U.S. Marshals Service. The House Agriculture Committee will hear from Secretary of Agriculture Thomas Vilsack on departmental needs, and the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee will address ongoing concerns regarding the handling of sexual harassment claims and challenges with VA compensation and pension programs.
In addition to these hearings, other committees will delve into topics such as health record modernization, the use of artificial intelligence in veterans services, the Doha Agreement and ongoing problems in Afghanistan, securing American technology enterprise efforts, the IRS’s current operations and challenges, China’s challenges, ending global dependence on Russian nuclear energy, and the issue of antisemitism and discrimination in Latin America.
While the delay in the budget plan’s release may be a source of frustration for some, it is not an uncommon occurrence in recent years. The February deadline has become more of a guidepost than a firm deadline, as each administration has struggled to meet it. Nevertheless, the upcoming budget proposal and ongoing budgetary work will undoubtedly shape important policy debates in the coming months.
