Supplemental Appropriations

Congress has passed supplemental appropriations since its earliest years to cover expenses that arose after the regular bills were enacted. Supplementals are used most often for natural disasters, military operations, public health emergencies, and economic crises, and they may also make technical adjustments or cut spending through rescissions. The President usually requests a supplemental, but Congress can initiate one, and the bills go through the same Appropriations Committees and procedures as regular spending bills.

Spending designated as an emergency by Congress and the President is generally exempt from discretionary spending caps and budget enforcement rules, which makes supplementals both fast and controversial. Major examples include the funding for Hurricane Katrina recovery in 2005, the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, which were funded largely through supplementals for years, the coronavirus relief laws of 2020, including the $2.2 trillion CARES Act signed on March 27, 2020, aid for Ukraine beginning in 2022, and the $95 billion national security supplemental signed on April 24, 2024.

Because emergency supplementals do not count against spending limits and are often passed quickly, critics argue that they invite unrelated spending and allow Congress to avoid paying for predictable costs such as recurring disasters, and that war funding through supplementals obscured the true cost of military operations. Supporters say supplementals are essential to respond rapidly to unforeseen events. Debates over whether to offset emergency spending with cuts elsewhere have grown more common, especially for disaster aid.