House Bill Would Lay Waste to Congress’s Watchdogs and Information Experts
beSpacific 2025-06-25
First Branch Forecast – “The House of Representatives is poised to inflict catastrophic damage on its own institutional capacity. Today, the House Appropriations Committee released its proposed funding levels for the Legislative Branch, which would slash the Government Accountability Office’s budget by 50 percent and the Library of Congress by 12 percent from FY 2024 levels. These two nonpartisan agencies are essential to Congress’s ability to conduct oversight and develop informed public policy. If enacted, these cuts would dismantle Congress’s core analytic and investigative capabilities, leaving the institution severely debilitated and far less able to fulfill its constitutional responsibilities. Here is the draft bill text and the committee’s summary of the $6.7 billion bill.
What Happens Next in the House and Senate The bill released today will be considered by the House Legislative Branch Appropriations subcommittee on Monday at 6 p.m. and by the full House Appropriations Committee on Thursday at 10 a.m. Should the measure pass the House the Senate still must agree. The upper chamber historically has been more reluctant to make such devastating cuts. However, Congress has enacted dramatic reductions before. During the Gingrich-era revolution in the mid-1990s, Congress cut Legislative branch agencies and committees by roughly 25%. In the early 2010s, the House suffered additional cuts of about 10%. These decisions were made to reinforce party rhetoric about spending as well as to shift where power is exercised…”