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What to Expect for This Year’s Federal Budget Proce

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 15:33:40 GMT

With many moving parts and players, shaping the nation’s budget almost never adheres to its official timeline . The process was designed to accommodate complex negotiations among federal agencies, the White House’s Office of Management and Budget, and Congress.

But while running behind schedule is expected, running off the rails is not. The government is currently operating under a continuing resolution (CR) due to an incomplete fiscal 2025 budget, and prospects are dim for reaching a deal for fiscal 2026 in the foreseeable future. That was the consensus among three expert panelists at FiscalNote’s March 26, 2025, webinar, “ The Federal Budget: Timelines, Hurdles, & Potential Impacts for Your Organization. ”

“When lawmakers get along, they can get stuff done. When politics interfere, they can’t—and there’s endless delays and endless fights. That’s what I fear we’re going to be facing this year,” said panel moderator David Lerman, a senior writer at CQ and Roll Call. “The politics are poisonous and not very promising here for any kind of timely action.”

Where Do We Stand?

Federal law sets a timeline for the president to release a draft budget for each fiscal year by the first Monday in February. Since that deadline is rarely met, its absence at this stage is not, in itself, noteworthy. It’s the broader context — of continual delays, bitter fighting between and within parties, and rancor over firings and funding freezes during the first days of the second Trump administration — that has experts worried.

“It is impossible to be optimistic about a top-line deal for next year in light of what we saw happen at the end of this year,” said Aidan Quigley, CQ and Roll Call’s Budget & Appropriations reporter. “I’m not expecting to see the President’s budget until May, potentially even June,” he added.

For their part, Democrats are eager to use spending bills to push back against the administration’s large-scale cuts to federal entities. “They’re going to want safeguards in these bills so that [Trump] … can’t just gut agencies on his own,” Lerman said. But Republicans’ rationale is: “We’re not going to tell a fellow Republican president what he can’t do, and we’re certainly not going to write it into an Appropriations bill,” Lerman explained.

Indeed, polarized politics is the reason Congress couldn’t reach a deal last year. “We didn’t have a final appropriations package for the current fiscal year because there was no agreement on that,” said Lerman. “And we’re left with this full-year continuing resolution just to extend current funding for all agencies. That’s the first time in my memory that’s been for a full year. That really says something.”

Quigley agreed: “With Republicans controlling both chambers and Democrats having no desire for spending cuts that Republicans want, it’s going to be a really tough year.”

Can Republicans Align on Debt Limit?

As Caitlin Reilly, CQ and Roll Call’s tax and economic policy staff writer, pointed out, conflicts proliferate within party lines as well. “My focus has been on internal divisions and efforts to overcome them within the Republican party,” she said, noting that a chief disagreement surrounds how much federal spending can, and should, be cut.

The Congressional Budget Office projects that Congress has until August or September of this year to borrow money before breaching the current debt limit of $36 trillion. To fund the administration’s plans to bolster defense and border security, House Republicans have set the stage to raise that limit by $4 trillion.

“Initially, there was harder pushback among Senate Republicans,” Reilly said, “but we’ve seen them start to warm up to that majority.”

The Senate is looking at the week of April 7 to put forward a compromise budget resolution, Reilly said. But much work remains to be done to reach an agreement that can get majority votes in both chambers of Congress, she added.

What Happens to Earmarks?

In a typical budget cycle, policy professionals often push to fund their own projects through the earmarking process . But in fiscal 2025, all earmarks got wiped out with the CR, leaving many to wonder if they could be brought back for fiscal 2026.

Once again, the panel was not optimistic. “I wouldn’t plan on receiving earmarked funding,” Quigley said. Despite the popularity of earmarks among both chambers and political parties, reintroducing them is easier said than done, he noted.

Who Pays for Tax Cuts?

With many of the Trump administration’s 2017 tax cuts set to expire at the end of this year, the president and Senate Republicans are pushing to extend them permanently — which raises the question of who will pay for them.

Their surprising answer is: no one. As the panel explained, the Senate contends that the cuts can be “cost-free,” given that they’re a continuation of current policy. “It’s very wonky talk,” said Lerman, “but basically they’re saying we don’t need to worry about how much they cost, because we can pretend there’s no cost, because we’re just extending tax cuts that already exist.” While fiscally conservative Republicans, including many in the House, are also committed to extending the cuts, they want to find another way to fund them.

The Senate’s parliamentarian is expected to weigh in soon with a ruling on whether the cost-free accounting tactic is viable, Reilly said.

The Core Issue

Another source of contention: The Trump administration is declining to spend $3 billion that Congress provided as part of the fiscal 2025 CR, saying the money was improperly designated as emergency funds.

“The Democrats are saying, and the law says, that you either have to declare all of [the $12 million designated] as emergency or none of it,” said Quigley. “You can’t just pick $3 billion that you don’t like and toss it.”

It’s a striking example of how far current reality has strayed from past precedent. The panel anticipated legal challenges that will drag on for years in court, all aimed at the same central question: “Does the administration have final spending authority, or is it actually in the hands of Congress?” Quigley asked.

What the Elections Changed & How to Prepare Your Government Affairs Strategy for 2025

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 06:59:52 GMT

The Republicans will control the House and the Senate, and Donald Trump will be president in January 2025. Government affairs professionals may wonder what the election results mean for their work.

To help answer those questions, FiscalNote and the Public Affairs Council hosted a webinar with a panel of CQ and Roll Call reporters to help clear the confusion so government relations professionals can bring clarity to their strategies for the remainder of this year and well into 2025.

Fill out the form to read a brief recap of what our experts discussed.

5 Steps To Building a Successful Government Relations Strategy

Tue, 01 Apr 2025 06:59:52 GMT

1. Start With Your Policy Priorities

The first place to start is with your specific legislative priorities. Assess your organization’s mission, vision, and long-term goals, and consult with key departments and leadership to understand their concerns and objectives.

As you identify relevant public policy issues and begin working on an action plan, it can help to set SMART milestones in your strategy. These are specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound goals your government relations team can work toward — whether it’s as big as influencing a specific policy change or as small as building relationships with certain legislators.

For example, your strategy could include a goal of engaging in three major policy developments within a year, securing the inclusion of your priorities in two key legislative bills, and/or establishing relationships with 10 influential policymakers. Setting these milestones will ensure your strategy remains active and responsive, guiding your government relations team’s efforts and focusing them on specific priorities.

2. Know Who Your Key Stakeholders Are

Stakeholders — including government officials, industry leaders, and community groups — play a significant role in shaping public policy. Mapping techniques can help you categorize, visualize, and prioritize key stakeholders and organizations.

Getting to know your stakeholders also means understanding who they are. This is often accomplished by gathering detailed information about key stakeholders. Stakeholder management tools, like those from POLITICO Pro, offer in-depth insights and information into influential players in the space — from in-depth congressional staff directories to biographies with profiles on their interests and previous positions on relevant issues. Analyzing each group’s influence and interests will help you determine who is most likely to support or oppose your public policy mission.

Understanding stakeholder behavior and public opinion will also help in crafting and refining messages that resonate. Engaging the right stakeholders at the right time can significantly impact your advocacy efforts, ensuring your policy priorities gain the necessary traction.

3. Create a Comprehensive Communication Plan

Maintaining long-term relationships with stakeholders requires ongoing communication and collaboration. That means you’ll need a strategic communication plan to ensure clear, consistent, and compelling messaging that addresses their specific interests and concerns.

At the same time, the context and analysis provided by Pro Analysis ensure messages across all your channels are well-informed and impactful, enhancing your ability to influence public policy effectively. Using Pro Stakeholder Management, you can go a step further by drafting and sending emails directly in the platform. The integrated solution allows you to create lists directly from Pro Directories, log meetings, and track interactions, making it easy to reach the right stakeholders.

Remember: Timing is also critical, so be sure to coordinate your communications with key legislative dates and events to maximize impacts and strengthen your organization’s relationships with stakeholders. By providing value through information sharing and ongoing collaboration, you reinforce your organization’s position within the broader public affairs ecosystem and ensure that your government relations strategy remains dynamic and effective.

4. Track the Legislative Landscape With Contextual Analysis

To advance in government affairs, you need to stay ahead of the latest developments. By using legislative tracking tools like Pro Trackers, your government relations team can monitor bills and amendments that might impact your policy priorities. This proactive approach equips your team with real-time insights needed to respond swiftly and strategically to legislative developments.

POLITICO Pro offers tools that provide not only tracking capabilities, but also the contextual analysis necessary to understand the broader implications of these developments. Instead of relying on generic resources like fact sheets, you get in-depth analysis and context behind policy moves, outcomes, and plans. This analysis helps you grasp the full impact of legislative changes and allows you to communicate these insights effectively to policymakers and stakeholders.

Additionally, Pro lets you share these resources with other Pro members in your organization — from analysis and newsletters to the latest alerts and updates — directly from the platform. By leveraging these insights and tools, your organization can better coordinate advocacy campaigns, public events, and lobbying efforts to advance its policy goals. This approach not only amplifies your message but also demonstrates broad-based support for your policy objectives, increasing your chances of success.

5. Monitor and Adapt Your Government Relations Strategy

Flexibility is essential for a dynamic government relations strategy. Periodically reviewing your strategy and adjusting your tactics as you progress toward your objectives ensures that your efforts remain effective. Use data to assess your strategy’s effectiveness, analyzing metrics such as the number of meetings with stakeholders, policy outcomes, and changes in public opinion.

Pro Data Analysis empowers this proactive approach by providing digestible data with essential context on policies and stakeholders, enabling you to understand the nuances behind legislative developments. You get insights into specific policy movements, industry trends, congressional procedures, and lawmakers to refine your strategy.

By leveraging comprehensive government relations tools like POLITICO Pro, you can ensure your strategy remains dynamic, data-driven, and responsive to the ever-changing political environment. This proactive approach not only enhances your ability to navigate complex legislative landscapes but also ensures that your advocacy efforts are supported by comprehensive, context-rich analysis.

Driving Policy Change With Advocacy Strategies

Brad@automationlinks.com (Brad Smith) — Tue, 01 Apr 2025 06:59:52 GMT

Crucial Elements of a Successful Advocacy Plan

No matter what your policy goal is, it’s easy to lose sight of the objective without a clear plan in place. But what exactly does an advocacy plan entail?

Here are six tactics to help you tackle your advocacy efforts:

1. Establish a Clear Objective

Advocacy work can often be like a loose thread — the more you pull, the more the initial problem unravels into other issues. That’s why it’s essential to start with a clear policy objective from the get-go. Whether you plan to forge a stronger relationship with legislators or advise clients on how to shape messaging on key issues, the end goal must be clear and concise.

POLITICO Pro enables government affairs professionals and political consultants to develop these goals by providing them with in-depth policy analysis on the key issues relevant to them. Leveraging our platform, they can anticipate legislative and regulatory changes and advocate for policy changes to help their organizations operate more successfully.

2. Identify, Track and Engage with Stakeholders

The next step in advocacy planning is to determine the key stakeholders, from legislators and other elected officials to regulators and staff members. Understanding this narrow audience selection and what drives them will be vital in developing a strong base of allies who can help effect change.

With tools like our Directories and Stakeholder Analysis , the Pro platform provides a comprehensive understanding of political affiliations, legislative priorities, analysis, and more, enabling lobbyists and political consultants to map out and pinpoint the most receptive audience for their advocacy campaigns.

3. Research and Gather Data

In addition to researching your target audience, developing an advocacy campaign will require comprehensive insight into relevant legislative changes. Government relations professionals will need a thorough understanding of the topic from all perspectives, including historical context, remarks from members of Congress, and real-time analysis.

POLITICO Pro empowers lobbyists, consultants and other professionals to dive deep into the legislative landscape through various tools — from Legislative Compass and Dialogue Tracking to Pro Analysis features like Pro Data Analysis and Pro Bill Analysis . Track policy trends as they emerge with comprehensive data from a single platform, so you can anticipate and act upon changes that will impact your policy goals.

4. Network and Build Support

All the research and information in the world won’t enact change in and of itself. Instead, those in government relations must emphasize the relations part of the job. Finding common ground with policy influencers has the power to truly advance your advocacy work, and Pro is here to help.

The Stakeholder Management and Analysis features provide a comprehensive suite of tools to help you connect with policymakers, track outreach and engagement, and strategically expand your network. At the same time, collaboration tools allow you to work in tandem with your team to achieve your policy goals .

5. Measure Engagement and Adjust Your Approach

As your advocacy campaign progresses, it will be critical to track engagement to refine your advocacy strategy. POLITICO Pro’s Stakeholder Management tool offers detailed reporting on interactions with policymakers and offices, including email metrics for all communications sent through the platform. This allows for a clear understanding of your impact and engagement levels to help you adjust your approach based on concrete data.

At the same time, Pro’s Stakeholder Analysis feature provides an easy and convenient way to map out the most relevant congressional stakeholders for your advocacy efforts, ensuring your campaign is targeted and strategic.