The Senate Appropriations Committee announced its process for congressionally directed spending for the FY 2023 funding cycle. Like the House process for community projects, Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) announced reforms and regulations for senators to follow when requesting funding for their states. The most notable reforms include:

• A 1% cap on discretionary spending for congressionally directed spending items;
• A ban on congressionally directed spending items to for-profit entities; 
• A requirement that senators post online their requests for congressionally directed spending items, as well as their financial certification disclosures attesting that they do not have any financial interest in any of the items requested; and 
• A requirement that the Government Accountability Office audit a sample of enacted congressionally directed spending items and report its findings to Congress.

The guidance for senators includes instructions for programmatic/language requests, which typically are general funding requests for national and regional programs, and/or bill and report language requests that directs, encourages, or urges an Agency or Department to carry out an action.  The guidance also includes links to each subcommittee that outlines the areas eligible for project funding, and their deadlines. For the Labor-HHS-Education Subcommittee, which funds most non-research higher education funding, the deadline is May 25, 2022.  Most higher education project funding lands at the Department of Education in The Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education (FIPSE).

Of the 12 appropriations subcommittees, three of them – Department of Defense, Legislative Branch, which funds Congress, and State-Foreign Operations, which funds overseas diplomacy – do not accept congressionally directed spending.