The Appropriations Committee of the United States House of Representatives has passed its 12 bills for 2027, clearing a major hurdle toward getting the 2027 federal budget enacted.
The appropriations committee has 12 total subcommittees. Congressman Chuck Edwards, who represents NC-11, encompassing the westernmost part of the state, is a member of that committee and serves as the vice chair of the Subcommittee for National Security, Department of State and Related Programs. Each subcommittee creates their own appropriations bills. Those bills go to the full committee for “markups,” essentially a series of amendments. That’s where the process is now.
Next, the full committee will vote on the individual bills before they come before the House. After a House vote, they go to the Senate, which will likely propose changes. The House conferences with the Senate to work out the differences, and then there’s a vote in each chamber to pass the final budget.
Edwards said this cycle marks the first time in years that the appropriations committee has passed all 12 subcommittee bills. In the past, he said, failure to do so led either to government shutdowns or an omnibus bill thousands of pages long that “no one had the time to read.”
“Usually it would come up immediately before a holiday like Christmas or New Year’s, and then folks would vote and make bad decisions,” the congressman said.
Edwards discussed the bill that came out of the Subcommittee for National Security, Department of State and Related Programs, which has a slated allocation of $47.32 billion, down $2.69 billion from this year’s budget. According to a report from Appropriations Chair Tom Cole (R-Oklahoma), even with the cuts, the NSRP bill “maintains robust funding for our allies like Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Taiwan and counters adversaries such as the Communist People’s Republican of China, Iran, Cuba and drug cartels — including those designated as Foreign Terrorist Organizations.”
The report touts the cost-cutting measures by enhancing efficiency and oversight while eliminating or prohibiting funding for “unauthorized programs” and “Biden-era executive orders on climate, gender, DEI and other extraneous and radical programs that undermine American foreign policy.”
Edwards said that the committee cut “fluff and unnecessary spending that did not align with the needs or wishes of the American people.”
“We were spending money to buy condoms in third-world countries, for example, and to perform drag shows in third-world countries,” he said. “We were plowing millions of dollars into countries that hate the United States, and so we put together a bill that is much more lean that rewards our allies and makes a statement worldwide that if you’re a friend of the United States, then we’re going to stand with you; if you’re an enemy or a foe of the United States, then we’re not going to.”
While many of the subcommittees cut back from last year, one subcommittee is calling for a marked increase. Amid the ongoing hot-and-cold conflict in Iran, the defense budget is slated for over $1 trillion, an increase of $234 billion over last year. Democrats in the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee have decried the ballooning budget in the face of cuts to other programs during a time when many Americans are struggling to keep up with cost-of-living increases.
“The American people overwhelmingly oppose President Trump’s war with Iran. Instead of listening to their concerns about the cost of living and holding President Trump accountable, this bill doubles down on the President’s war of choice by providing the Department of Defense with over a trillion dollars. It’s an unprecedented sum that comes at the cost of funding for our nation’s education, workforce training, and international diplomacy,” Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Ranking Member Betty McCollum (D-Minnesota) said in a release.
Edwards said there’s no such thing as a perfect spending bill and thinks there’s more room for cuts to get the budget “back in line,” but he also said that he receives top-secret briefings on the United States military’s defense capabilities relative to that of our adversaries.
“I can say with great confidence that we have adversaries that are advancing their technologies at a far greater rate than what we’ve been able to do here in the United States,” he said.
“If we want to continue to be our own country and protect our freedom, we’re going to have to make substantially larger investments in our defense,” he added.
Edwards said that as a member of the Appropriations Committee, he is able to select some certain projects in the district to fund. He said that in the 12 spending bills that were passed, Western North Carolina will receive over $20 million for such projects.
When it comes to Helene relief, Edwards had praise for Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullen, whose department oversees FEMA. Mullen took over after former Secretary Kristi Noem was fired. During her tenure, FEMA came under scrutiny as she instituted a policy requiring that any FEMA funding request over $100,000 must be personally signed off by her.
However, as of now, there isn’t any additional Helene relief money in any of the appropriations bills.
“North Carolina will continue to be reimbursed under the Stafford Act for the elements under FEMA, USDA, Federal Highways, and the other agencies that are tasked with helping us out in a disaster,” Edwards said.