After a few months of partisan stalemate, Congress voted just before the holidays to pass the annual spending bills that fund the federal government.
Because they fell in the shadow of groundbreaking laws such as the Inflation Reduction Act, it’s tempting to think of the 2023 appropriations bills as more status quo than anything new and exciting. Tucked inside the hundreds of pages of bill text, though, are significant victories for green schools, federal buildings, affordable housing standards and other USGBC priorities. That, of course, is on top of the routine, but critically important ongoing funding for programs like the Department of Energy’s Building Technologies Office, EPA’s Energy Star, GSA’s Federal Buildings Fund and others.
Additionally, appropriations bills aren’t just about funding; they allow Congress to provide direction, often through report language accompanying the legislation, on how lawmakers expect the funding to be spent. In some cases, this direction is as important as the funding itself, and is a focus of USGBC’s appropriations advocacy each year.
https://www.usgbc.org/articles/what-2023-spending-bills-mean-green-building
