PSC Urges Congress to Move Quickly on FY 2022 Budget Agreement

White House Letter to Congress Addresses Many Needs, Is Starting Point for Negotiations

Arlington, Va. (Apr. 9, 2021) Today, the Biden administration released the President’s proposal to Congress for “topline” Fiscal Year 2022 (FY22) discretionary funding. The Professional Services Council (PSC) urges Congress to move forward now on setting FY22 spending targets for both defense and non-defense agencies, even though a detailed budget request will not be available until later this spring. 

“The administration’s proposals provide some topline funding targets for federal government missions and functions across all agencies. Many challenges need to be addressed quickly, from cybersecurity and the COVID-19 pandemic to outdated infrastructure and climate issues. Even though the details are not yet available, Congress should begin now with negotiations to reach agreement on spending levels for FY22 appropriations bills,” said David Berteau, President and CEO of PSC. “With the debt ceiling reset looming on August 1, there is no time to waste.”

The administration’s letter to Congress [https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/FY2022-Discretionary-Request.pdf] proposes a 16 percent increase over FY21 appropriations for non-defense agencies and a small increase for defense, slightly less than inflation. The letter does not, however, provide sufficient detail to sum to those targets.

Berteau added, “PSC continues to analyze today’s release and will work with Congress on the priorities important to our member companies and their government customers.  We note that today’s numbers continue the trend that non-defense appropriations have increased at a rate exceeding that for defense appropriations in each of the last three years. Available data indicate, however, that civilian agencies continue to fall short in obligating the funds appropriated to them. In many cases, more can be done today to address many of the challenges highlighted in the administration’s letter to Congress. One of the most important steps this administration could take is to accelerate the obligation of existing funding on all the critical activities undertaken by those agencies.”

A PDF of the release can be found here. 

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Media Contact:
Pheniece Jones
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