Trump administration gets less tech funding than requested in new bicameral bills

Appropriators in both the House and Senate released a new package of conferenced bills over the weekend to fund several agencies as they work to avert another government shutdown at the end of the month.

Among the packages introduced is the bicameral, bipartisan Financial Services and General Government bill, which includes several government tech funding pools — some of which are getting less than the Trump administration asked for. 

For example, lawmakers are opting to give significantly less to the Information Technology Oversight and Reform account, which funds the U.S. DOGE Service and the White House Office of the Chief Information Officer. 

The Trump administration asked for $19.6 million for the account in its proposal last year. Appropriators would give the account about half that amount in the text released over the weekend. 

The White House wanted $10 million specifically for a “software modernization initiative” led by the Department of Government Efficiency, as well as authorization for $35 million in agency reimbursements to the U.S. DOGE Service for the work it provides. 

The negotiated bill text would put $8 million into ITOR without a recommendation for how the administration splits up money within the account.

In previous proposals made before coming together for a negotiated text, the House had put aside $5 million for DOGE and $5 million for ITOR, while the Senate text had put $8 million into that account with no mention of DOGE.

President Donald Trump set up DOGE within what was formerly the U.S. Digital Service on his first day in office last year, and it quickly became known for its work firing federal employees, cutting contracts and even shuttering entire agencies in the name of cutting government spending. However, government spending actually went up last year.

Even before USDS became DOGE, the group had been moving to use more reimbursement from agencies to sustain its work after funding from the American Rescue Plan Act ended.

The new appropriations text also doesn’t include explicit reauthorization for the Technology Modernization Fund at the General Services Administration, a revolving fund meant to provide up-front cash for government modernization projects, although appropriators did give it a $5 million plus-up. Its authorization expired on Dec. 12. 

As Nextgov/FCW reported late last year, an industry source questioned whether the TMF could be “authorized by appropriations” if lawmakers include additional dollars for the fund but don’t outright extend its authorization to operate, as they have done in this package.

But Marianne Copenhaver — GSA Associate Administrator for Strategic Communications — told Nextgov/FCW in a statement that while “GSA appreciates the $5 million for the TMF… Without reauthorization, TMF cannot make new investments, which is how the program generates returns on Congressional appropriations.”

“GSA remains engaged with Congress on that path forward,” she added.

A bipartisan reauthorization bill had been introduced in both the House and the Senate, but passed neither. Lawmakers also recently passed on the chance to include reauthorization in the annual, must-pass defense bill, and, in the latest funding package, they declined to include language requested by the Trump administration for TMF to be able to take on unobligated balances from other agencies. 

Congress hasn’t consistently put money into the revolving fund since setting it up in 2017. The Trump administration had asked lawmakers for the authority to take unobligated balances from other agencies as a way to “[alleviate] the budget on the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Subcommittee” — something the latest funding text also doesn’t appear to include.

Finally, the Federal Citizen Services Fund, meant to help with governmentwide digital transformation, would get $70 million via the new bill text, which is what the administration requested. The fund can also take up to $29 million in reimbursements from other agencies, up to a total cap in funding of $150 million.

Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., vice chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said in a statement that “these were tough negotiations under extremely challenging circumstances” but “there is no doubt in my mind that this bipartisan compromise is a significantly better outcome than another yearlong continuing resolution that provides President Trump with slush funds and more power — and that fails to address urgent problems.”