White House Calls for $40 Billion Supplemental

The White House recently proposed a supplemental appropriations package to boost Fiscal Year (FY) 2024 ordinary appropriations by $40 billion above the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) caps, designating the funding as emergency spending to avoid violating the caps. 

If enacted, the supplemental would provide $24.0 billion of additional aid to Ukraine – on top of the $113 billion the United States provided in 2022 alone. This includes $13.1 billion of military aid and replenishment of Pentagon weapons stocks, $8.7 billion of economic and humanitarian aid, and $2.3 billion to leverage additional aid from other donors through the World Bank. 

In addition, the request includes $12 billion for disaster relief to address the damage caused by recent wildfires, hurricanes, and storms, $4 billion for border security, and $60 million for wildland firefighter pay. The disaster relief funding would replenish the Federal Emergency Management Agency's (FEMA) disaster relief fund, which is quickly depleting its reserves in part because it continues to fund COVID-19 related costs. Most of the COVID-related reimbursements are from expenses incurred prior to May 11, 2023, though FEMA will continue to pay up to $9,000 of funeral expenses for any COVID-related death through September of 2025.

What's in the White House's Ukraine and Disaster Supplemental? 

Source: The White House. Numbers may not sum due to rounding. 

Without offsets, this supplemental would add about $50 billion to the debt (including interest). Though current budget rules exempt emergencies from the discretionary spending caps and pay-as-you-go (PAYGO) rules, policymakers should work to fully offset the costs in light of current fiscal and economic dynamics. Congress should also consider the details of this supplemental request carefully, limiting any final supplemental appropriations to spending that is truly necessary, sudden, urgent, unforeseen, and temporary. They should not use supplemental appropriations to backfill ordinary spending limited under the Fiscal Responsibility Act.