What is an appropriations bill?

An appropriations bill is legislation that allocates federal funds to specific government agencies, programs, and activities, providing the legal authority to spend money from the U.S. Treasury. The Constitution requires this process in Article I, Section 9, which states that no money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law. Congress's power to appropriate funds, often called the power of the purse, is one of the most important checks on executive branch authority.

Federal spending falls into two main categories. Mandatory spending, sometimes called direct spending, includes programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, where the law itself sets eligibility and benefit levels. Discretionary spending is the spending that Congress controls through annual appropriations bills. Discretionary spending makes up roughly 30 percent of total federal spending.

The appropriations process operates on a fiscal year that runs from October 1 to September 30. Each year, Congress is supposed to pass 12 separate appropriations bills covering different parts of the federal government: Agriculture; Commerce, Justice, and Science; Defense; Energy and Water; Financial Services; Homeland Security; Interior and Environment; Labor, Health, and Education; Legislative Branch; Military Construction and Veterans Affairs; State and Foreign Operations; and Transportation, Housing, and Urban Development. The House and Senate Appropriations Committees, which include 12 subcommittees each (one for each appropriations bill), draft the bills.

In recent decades, Congress has often failed to pass all 12 bills before the start of the fiscal year. When this happens, Congress typically passes continuing resolutions, which extend funding at current levels for a limited period to avoid a government shutdown. Sometimes Congress combines multiple appropriations bills into a single omnibus or minibus package. If neither full appropriations bills nor continuing resolutions are enacted, parts of the federal government may shut down. Notable government shutdowns have occurred in 1995-1996, 2013, 2018-2019 (the longest at 35 days), and 2025-2026. Government shutdowns disrupt federal services, delay paychecks for federal workers, and can have significant economic effects.

Appropriations bills are subject to certain procedural rules, including the prohibition on legislating on appropriations bills, meaning policy provisions are supposed to be limited to those directly related to spending. In practice, appropriations bills often contain various policy provisions, sometimes called riders, that affect how funds can or cannot be used.