Key Funding Items Included in the FY 2022 Legislative Branch Bill

The FY 2022 appropriations omnibus was passed by both houses of Congress this past week and President Biden is expected to shortly sign the measure into law. The FY 2022 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill was rolled into the package, and it is packed with good government reforms and significant investments in Congress’s capacity to legislate, conduct oversight, serve constituents, and more. This legislation takes a giant leap forward to restoring strength to the Legislative branch through its efforts to address decades of underfunding.

We and our civil society colleagues recommended dozens of items to include as part of the bill text and committee report — see our FY 2022 Appropriations requests, FY 2022 appropriations testimony, and 2020 report on updating House Rules — many of which appropriations graciously considered and included.

As Congress turns to the FY 2023 appropriations process, this blogpost highlights some of the notable funding changes reflected in the FY 2022 Legislative Branch Appropriations Bill. You can find the complete FY 22 Legislative Branch portion of the bill here and the Joint Explanatory Statement here. For resources on prior Legislative Branch Appropriations bills, go here. In a future blogpost, we will look at the report language.

You can compare final line item funding for FY 21 versus FY 22 by looking at our spreadsheet. It is somewhat confusing, as some agencies/entities are funded by more than one line on the spreadsheet. We hope to have a summary version in the near future. Here is funding by line item over the last 25 years, not including the about-to-be-enacted fiscal year.

The FY 22 Legislative Branch bill appropriates $5.925 billion towards the Legislative Branch, a $625.0 million increase over FY 2021, representing 11.8 percent increase. Roughly 40 percent of the increase will go to the Capitol Police and Architect.

Among the key funding features of this legislation include:

A 21 percent increase to personal, committee, and leadership offices in the House.
The House saw a $134.4 million (21%) increase for the Member Representational Allowance (MRA) to $774.4 million, which represents the largest MRA increase since the line item was created in 1996. The House also saw a $6 million (21%) increase in Majority and Minority Leadership funding to $34.9 million, as well as a $34.2 (21%) increase in funding for House committee operations. This funding in the House signifies a significant investment in helping to rebuild congressional capacity and staff pay.

The Senate’s SOPOEA — the Senate equivalent to the House MRA — funding level saw a slight increase by $25.3 million from $461 million in FY 21 to $486.3 million in FY 22, representing a 5.5 percent increase. The Senate historically has incorporated an automatic increase in funding for its constituent service staff based upon growth in the states, so it has done a somewhat better job increasing its funding over the years.

Paying interns more.
In the House, personal offices saw a 40 percent increase in aggregate internship funding, with a $4.4 million increase to $15.4 million. Leadership office intern funds were increased by $240.5 thousand for the Majority and $197.5 thousand for the Minority, representing 20.5 percent and 19.8 percent increases respectively. For the first time, the House funded committee interns, at a level of $2.3 million.

In the Senate, funding for internships increased by $1 million, from $6 million to $7 million, representing a 16.7 percent increase. Senate committee internships did not receive any funding.

These internship funding increases should help broaden pathways for students (and veterans) from all walks of life to experience working for Congress. We note that funding for the Office of Diversity and Inclusion doubled from $1.5 million to $3 million, which means that this newly widened pathway will make it possible for more people to get their foot on the first rung of the Congressional ladder.

Substantive increases in support offices funding.
In the House, support offices like the Clerk (+14%), Sergeant at Arms (+19%), and Whistleblower Ombuds (+25%) saw significant increases. The Clerk needs the funds to support its technology operations and ongoing modernization initiatives, and the SAA has significant security components. The Chief Administrative Office, which continues to produce great work around staff and member training, saw a 9 percent increase from $177 million in FY 21 to $193.2 million in FY 22. We also note real increases for the important but often overlooked Office of General Counsel (+5.3%), Legislative Counsel (+5.8%), and Law Revision Counsel (+3.8%).

In the Senate, the largest percentage funding increase went to the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, which had a 141.5 percent funding increase from $9.5 million in FY21 to $23 million in FY 22. The Senate Sergeant at Arms and Doorkeeper saw a $9.68 million increase to $98.5 million, representing a 10.9 percent increase from FY 21. Policymaking support offices, like the Office of the Legislative Counsel of the Senate (10%) and Office of Senate Legal Counsel (8.5%), saw increases as well.

Increases for the legislative policy support agencies.
The Government Accountability Office saw a significant increase in funding, a $58.1 million increase to $729 million (+8.8%), although it is significantly below its historical funding levels when adjusted for inflation. Increases in funding for GAO has a high probability of leading to substantial long run savings — GAO estimates that every dollar spent on GAO has a 110-120x return on the investment.

There were increases in other legislative policy support agencies: Congressional Research Service (2.9%), Congressional Budget Office (6.4%), and Government Publishing Office (the actual amount is unclear because of how the revolving door fund works)

The Office of Congressional Workplace Rights saw no increase in funding. With the ongoing unionization push in the House, this flat funding likely will be insufficient in FY 23.

The Capitol Police Receive a Significant Funding Increase
The Capitol Police will receive an additional $87 million from $515.5 million in FY 21 to $602.5 million in FY 22, representing a 16.9 percent increase. USCP aims to use additional funding to pay for new sworn officers and civilian members, although they likely will find it hard to sustain that level of hiring. Unlikely other Legislative Branch entities, the Capitol Police are always well funded and routinely enjoy significant increases. As we have written elsewhere, the major problems at the Capitol Police lie with poor leadership, bad management, and a lack of training, something that funding cannot resolve.

The Architect of the Capitol Received a Significant Funding Increase.
The Architect of the Capitol saw an increase of $98.8 million from $675.1 million in FY 21 to $773.9 million in FY 22, representing a 14.6 percent increase. There is also an additional $16.3 million in increased funding representing a 35 percent increase, for USCP buildings, grounds, and security, which is housed under Architect funding. Funding includes $128 million to continue restoration of the Cannon House Office Building.