Upcoming Congressional Fiscal Policy Deadlines

Updated 5/17/2024: The President signed a multi-year Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization on May 16, following House passage on May 15 and Senate passage on May 9. The previous extension was set to expire on May 17. 

The Senate cleared a "minibus" full-year appropriations package early in the morning on March 23, by a 74-24 vote, for the remaining six appropriations bills that were set to expire on Friday, March 22: Defense, Financial Services-General Government, Homeland Security, Labor-HHS-Education, Legislative Branch, and State-Foreign Operations. The President signed the measure, and the hours-long lapse in funding did not disrupt government operations. The House had passed the measure on Friday, March 22, under suspension of the rules by a 286-134 vote.

On Friday, March 8, the Senate cleared, by a 75-22 vote, full-year appropriations for fiscal year 2024 under a first “minibus” for six appropriations bills: Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science, Energy-Water, Interior-Environment, Military Construction-VA, and Transportation-HUD. The President signed the measure. The House had passed the minibus under suspension of the rules by a 339-85 vote on March 6.

The first minibus also included extensions of certain Medicaid and Medicare policies through December 2024. A two-month Federal Aviation Administration extension was also enacted in March, authorizing those authorities through May 10. 

The next few years will include several predictable fiscal policy deadlines that will force congressional action. Many of the deadlines could bring additional costs if Congress acts irresponsibly, or they could present an opportunity for Congress to reduce deficits.

We will regularly update this tracker to help reporters, congressional staff, and others interested in fiscal policy keep tabs on major deadlines. We recommend that you bookmark it and come back to check in.

Congress may be compelled to act on each of these dates or enact short-term extensions or policy modifications to move the deadlines to buy time for action. 

Longer-Term Deadlines

• Early-to-mid 2025: Debt limit suspension ends on January 1, 2025; extraordinary measures will likely allow for the government to continue to meet its obligations for a few months after that date.
• End of April 2025: Penalty for use of a continuing resolution (CR) in FY 2025 under the Fiscal Responsibility Act, reducing both defense and nondefense funding levels by 1 percent if appropriations bills are not enacted by April 30 (It technically applies beginning in January, but sequestration order does not take effect until May. Penalty was avoided for FY 2024 through enactment of two minibus appropriations laws.)
• End of FY 2025: Statutory discretionary spending caps enacted in the Fiscal Responsibility Act expire. (Targets for spending that are not backed by sequestration remain through FY 2029.)
• End of calendar year 2025: Increased and expanded Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies expire. (The American Rescue Plan temporarily increased premium tax credits for assistance in buying health insurance from state-based marketplaces created by the ACA and expanded eligibility for premium tax credits to individuals with incomes exceeding 400 percent of the federal poverty line, but only through the end of 2022. The Inflation Reduction Act extended those subsidies for three years, through 2025.) 
• End of calendar year 2025: TCJA individual income tax provisions expire; TCJA paid family leave credit expires; employer-paid student loans income exclusion expires; multiple tax extenders expire such as Empowerment Zones incentives, film and live performances expensing, and the wind energy investment tax credit; health extenders including the Rural Community Hospital Demonstration program; tax exclusion for student debt forgiveness ends.
• End of FY 2026: Surface transportation programs authorization provided by Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act expires; Export-Import Bank authorization expires
• End of FY 2027: Maternal, Infant, & Early Childhood Home Visiting expiration, Food & Drug Administration user fee programs expiration
• FY 2028: Highway Trust Fund insolvency; FAA authorization expires
• FY 2033: Social Security Old-Age and Survivors Insurance (OASI) Trust Fund exhaustion (combined OASI and SSDI exhaustion date is 2035; CBO's February 2024 budget outlook estimated OASI insolvency in 2033)
• FY 2036: Medicare Hospital Insurance (Part A) Trust Fund exhaustion (CBO's February 2024 budget outlook suggested insolvency sometime in the mid-2030s)

Upcoming Supreme Court Cases with Potential Fiscal Effects (2023-2024)

• Charles G. Moore v. United States (Challenges taxation of repatriated earnings and unrealized income.) 
• Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America (Challenges funding structure for Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which is funded through the Federal Reserve outside of the normal appropriations process.)

Upcoming Executive Branch Rulemaking with Potential Fiscal Effects

• Regulations on reporting of sales and exchanges of digital assets by brokers (Treasury; considering first year of implementation of Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act tax provision in 2026, for sales and exchanges of digital assets in 2025) 
• Section 30D New Clean Vehicle Credit (Treasury; considering critical mineral and battery component requirements for the tax credit for purchase of qualifying new clean vehicles created by the IRA)
• Multi-pollutant vehicle emissions standards (EPA; considering new emissions standards for light-duty and medium-duty vehicles starting with model year 2027 and phasing in through 2032 with separate rulemaking for heavy-duty vehicles.)
• Additional student debt relief (Education; considering policy changes for borrowers whose balances are greater than what they originally borrowed, whose loans first entered repayment decades ago, who attended programs that did not provide sufficient financial value, who are eligible for relief but have not applied, and additional borrowers who have experienced financial hardship and need support.)
• Updates to WIC food packages (Agriculture; considering changes to the foods prescribed to participants in the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) that would increase the current level of assistance while providing state agencies with more flexibility to tailor the packages.)