Congress Approves FY19 Funding for the Corporation for National and Community Service

Congress has passed the fiscal year 2019 Labor, Health and Human Services and Education Appropriations Bill, the legislation that funds the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). The spending package includes $1.08 billion for the service agency, a $19 million increase over fiscal year 2018. (Reference: Labor-HHS Conference Report and Joint Explanatory Statement (page 544)).

The legislation includes a $13 million increase for AmeriCorps State and National and a $6 million increase for Senior Corps. This is a significant outcome, especially after the White House submitted a budget to Congress in February that recommended the elimination of the AmeriCorps and Senior Corps programs and a shutdown of CNCS.

Congress paired the FY19 Labor-HHS bill with the Defense spending bill, combined these two bills account for the majority of federal discretionary spending.  The approved legislation also included a short-term continuing resolution that runs through December 7.  The stop-gap measure averts a partial shutdown of the agencies without full-year appropriations, including the departments of Homeland Security, State, Justice and Commerce.