House Appropriations’ rule limits a nonprofit funding option

New House appropriations committee chair Tom Cole (R-OK) has announced a rule that nonprofits are not eligible for “community project funding” (i.e., earmarks) from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Economic Development Initiative in the FY 2025 appropriations bill. In FY 2024, this account provided $3.3 billion to public and nonprofit organizations, and CQ Roll Call reports that nearly $800 million of the House’s projects went to nonprofits. The rules for FY 2025 also maintain the ban Cole’s predecessor, Rep. Kay Granger (R-TX), placed on all earmarks in the Labor-Health and Human Services-Education funding bill. At this point, the Senate does not seem likely to conform with the House’s change—the Senate has not published a change to its guidance and did not follow the House’s restrictions in FY 2024.