Appropriations

U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska)

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Status Update: Appropriations and Congressionally Directed Spending

As a senior member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Murkowski plays a key role in setting federal budget priorities and directing federal funds to Alaska.

Senator Murkowski strongly supports a regular order process to approve each of Congress’ 12 annual appropriations bills before the start of each fiscal year (FY). As part of this, she helped the Senate Appropriations Committee report all 12 of its bills for the current fiscal year (FY 2024) by August 2023 on an overwhelmingly bipartisan basis.

Unfortunately, since then, the full Senate has only taken up and passed three of those 12 bills, forcing Congress to pass continuing resolutions (CRs) to keep the government open and operating after the start of FY 2024. At this time, no FY 2024 appropriations bills have been sent to the President’s desk for enactment.

The Senate’s failure to consider committee-passed Appropriations bills in a timely manner has created significant uncertainty for FY 2024, including for congressionally directed spending (CDS), as well as the upcoming FY 2025 cycle.

Please visit this page regularly for the latest updates on the budget and CDS processes for both FY 2024 and FY 2025.  An update will be posted on March 1st with regard to FY25 applications.

Fiscal Year 2025 Requests

 Last Updated: January 29, 2024

At this time, there is little clarity about the Fiscal Year (2025) appropriations timeline for programmatic or Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS or earmarks) requests. The outcome of the FY24 process will determine how many, if any, new project requests the office will be able to accept.

Be sure to check back regularly for the latest updates, as a truncated FY25 process may only allow us to keep the portal open for a short period of time.

Recent Guidance

Click here to access information on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s CDS guidance for FY24. While there is no guarantee this guidance will be identical for FY25, and some accounts may be closed, the linked document provides basic information about how this process worked for FY24, the current fiscal year, and provides an overview of likely eligible accounts.

Eligibility and Limitations for FY 2025 Requests

Senator Murkowski strives to fund as many CDS projects in Alaska as possible, but not all requests can be advanced based on the volume being received, restrictions on eligibility, and overall funding limitations.

Due to those constraints, our office is able to review up to five CDS requests per entity, and we encourage applicants to prioritize their most pressing and competitive projects. If an applicant submits more than five project requests, we will consider the first five to be their priority selections.

As with prior years, Senate rules do not allow CDS funding to go to for-profit entities, including Native Corporations. Requests must come from government or non-profit entities to be eligible. CDS requests must meet strict criteria established by Appropriations subcommittees with the input of federal agencies. The funding available for each CDS account is determined annually at the subcommittee and full committee level, not by our office.

We encourage applicants to closely review guidance for eligibility and to utilize the project interest form on this page to receive initial feedback on eligibility. The CDS requests we have secured in prior years (see below) illustrate the type of projects that are most likely to succeed, along with potential funding levels. Generally, smaller ‘shovel-ready’ projects with additional non-federal funding sources are most competitive and likely to advance.

Fiscal Year 2024

Last Updated: January 29, 2024

FY 2024 began on October 1, 2023.

On January 18, 2024, Congress passed a “laddered” CR to keep the federal government operating. Four of Congress’ annual appropriations bills are now extended through March 1, 2024 (Agriculture, Energy-Water, Military Construction-VA, and Transportation-HUD) while eight others expire on March 8, 2024 (Commerce-Justice-Science, Defense, Financial Services-General Government, Homeland Security, Interior-Environment, Labor-HHS-Education, Legislative Branch, and State-Foreign Operations).

It remains unclear whether Congress will reach agreement on spending legislation for the remainder of the fiscal year, or whether it will be necessary to pass additional short-term extensions. Likewise, while Senator Murkowski has secured dozens of CDS requests from Alaskans to benefit local communities in the FY 2024 bills, there is still no guarantee that the funding for those projects will ultimately be enacted into law.

Click here to visit our FY 2024 Appropriations and CDS Request Page. If you have a specific question about an application you submitted for FY 2024, please reach out to appropriations@murkowski.senate.gov to connect with a member of Senator Murkowski’s staff.

Click here to visit Senator Murkowski's FY 2024 Appropriations and CDS Request Page.

Click here to access the Senate Appropriations Committee’s CDS guidance for FY 2024. 

Fiscal Year 2023

Through the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2023, which became law in December 2022, Senator Murkowski secured close to $500 million in funding for over 130 projects across the state. She prioritized investments in workforce development, housing, healthcare, water and wastewater infrastructure, community safety, fisheries research, wildfire mitigation and response, working waterfronts, and Alaska’s military members and their families. Click here to read more about those projects.

Please find the complete list of projects that Senator Murkowski requested for FY 23 here.

Fiscal Year 2022

In FY 2022, Senator Murkowski successfully included $230 million in Congressionally Directed Spending allocations for over 65 local projects in Alaska.

Please find the complete list of projects that Senator Murkowski requested for FY 22 here.

Resources:

Please find reforms to the CDS process here

Fiscal Year 2025 Requests

 Last Updated: January 29, 2024

At this time, there is little clarity about the FY 2025 appropriations timeline for programmatic or CDS requests. The outcome of the FY 2024 process will determine how many, if any, new project requests the office will be able to accept.

Despite this uncertainty, we still want to hear from you, if you are an Alaskan who is interested in pursuing federal funding for a local community project.

Click here to access our project interest form for FY 2025, which will allow you to start discussing your project with the relevant staff in our office. Be sure to complete all required fields so that we can reach you and determine your project’s eligibility.

It is possible Senator Murkowski will open her ‘appropriations portal’ for project submissions as soon as March 1, 2024, depending on the status of FY 2024 appropriations. Be sure to check back regularly for the latest updates, as a truncated FY 2025 process may only allow us to keep the portal open for a short period of time.

Recent Guidance

Click here to access information on the Senate Appropriations Committee’s CDS guidance for FY 2024. While there is no guarantee this guidance will be identical for FY 2025, and some accounts may be closed, the linked document provides basic information about how this process worked for the current fiscal year, and provides an overview of likely eligible accounts.