Funding through Congressionally Directed Spending for Higher Education
The Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) process (previously referred to as earmarking) allows organizations to utilize relationships with their elected officials to secure impactful funding outside of the traditional federal grant application process.
In FY23, over $1.7B in CDS funding was awarded to 550 colleges and universities to support construction and renovation projects, research and lab space, workforce development initiatives, and other projects aligned with federal and local interests. While the average request per project was $3.2M for colleges and universities, the median funding amount was $1.25M. The annual federal appropriations process typically begins in the spring. Congress is still working to pass the FY24 budget which includes pending CDS requests from last year. Simultaneously, the FY25 appropriations process is ramping up in the House and Senate. Offices are currently engaging with constituents considering a CDS application and posting request forms with deadlines as early as March 8th.
Getting Started with Congressionally Directed Spending: Support for Colleges and Universities
The FY25 CDS application process is under way! Curious how to leverage Congressionally Directed Spending for your institution? Contact us HERE to schedule a complimentary 30-minute consultation to discuss how a CDS project could benefit your institution. McAllister & Quinn offers strategic guidance on connecting with congressional delegations and can assist with writing a competitive CDS submission.
McAllister & Quinn is a grant writing and government relations consulting firm based in Washington, D.C. The firm has generated over $850 million in funding for colleges and universities nationally. The McAllister & Quinn higher education team is comprised of former higher education and federal government professionals with extensive experience seeking funding for scholarships, research, and academic programs.
Read on below to learn more about the details of the CDS application process.
Funding Bills and Applications
The House refers to these projects as Community Project Funding and the Senate uses the term Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS). Applicants are required to request funding through a specific funding bill. There are 12 funding bills in total, but there are five that are most relevant to higher education institutions for CDS projects: 1) Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, 2) Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies, 3) Financial Services and General Government, 4) Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, 5) Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies. Each bill has a unique set of rules that dictate how funding can be utilized.
Rules & Requirements
Institutions may submit applications to participating member offices from both the House and the Senate. While each office must abide by the relevant House and Senate rules regarding appropriations, each individual office sets its own internal policies, distributes its own request form and enforces its own deadlines. Applications are relatively brief and typically include a narrative component, budgetary information, and letters of support. Some offices do not participate in the Congressionally Directed Spending process. The House and Senate offer similar rules regarding each chambers’ definition of Congressionally directed spending, although the House rules are more restrictive than the Senate. As of the FY24 process, the Senate Committee on Appropriations does not limit the number of requests each senator may submit for consideration. House members are only permitted to submit up to fifteen requests per Congressional district to the House Committee on Appropriations. The submission of a project to the House or Senate Appropriations Committee does not guarantee funding.
Members are required to post project funding requests online in a searchable format. For example, all FY24 projects submitted to the House and Senate Appropriations Committees can be found here:
*UPDATED SEPTEMBER 25, 2024
Fiscal Year 2025 begins on October 1, but none of the 12 appropriations bills needed to fund the government have been finalized. To avoid a shutdown, the House and Senate will pass a continuing resolution (CR) to maintain current funding levels. After an initial failed attempt to pass a 6-month CR in the House, the Congress has now coalesced around efforts to pass a 3-month CR that lasts until December 20, 2024. This is a “clean” CR with no policy riders. The House and Senate are expected to pass it this week and then immediately recess. Lawmakers are eager to return home in order to focus on the upcoming election.
This CR sets the foundation for a lame duck Congress to return after the elections and rush to make final FY25 funding decisions before the end of the calendar year. The goal of most is to finish FY25 decisions before a new Administration takes power in January 2025. Although the House Speaker is opposed to a large omnibus funding package, recent history shows this is often the final result.
If you are interested in registering for next year’s Government Relations Workshop, or want to learn more about how McAllister & Quinn can work with your institution on submitting Congressionally Directed Spending requests, please contact us below.
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