Congressionally Directed Spending: Eligibility, Caps, and Disclosure

Congressionally directed spending is federal money that an individual senator or representative steers to a specific project back home, funded through the annual appropriations bills and available only to state, local, and tribal governments and qualifying nonprofits. The practice returned in 2021 after a decade-long moratorium and now runs on stricter rules than the old earmark system: for fiscal year 2026, total spending is capped at one percent of discretionary appropriations, every request must be posted publicly, and for-profit companies are shut out entirely.¹ The House calls its version “Community Project Funding” and the Senate uses “Congressionally Directed Spending,” but the eligibility rules on both sides look the same.

Who Can Receive the Money

Three categories of organizations qualify: state and local governments, tribal governments, and registered nonprofits.¹ For-profit companies cannot receive any congressionally directed spending, and that ban has held since the practice was revived.

Being a nonprofit is not enough on its own. The project itself has to serve a clear public purpose and fit within a specific federal agency account that accepts these requests. A member of Congress cannot simply pick a favored charity and send it a check.

What Kinds of Projects Qualify

Congressionally directed spending does not flow into every part of the federal budget. Each year, the House and Senate Appropriations Committees publish a list of authorized agency accounts, and your project must fit one of them. For FY2026, authorized accounts cover roughly a dozen agencies and include transportation infrastructure, community development, water systems, law enforcement technology, agricultural research, disaster mitigation, and rural broadband.²

Some subcommittees do not participate at all. On the Senate side for FY2026, the Defense, Legislative Branch, and State/Foreign Operations subcommittees do not accept requests.³ The House similarly excludes Defense, Financial Services, Labor-HHS-Education, Legislative Branch, and National Security/State. If your project sits in one of those areas, this funding path is closed.

Typical funded projects include bridge and road repairs through the Department of Transportation, water and sewer upgrades through USDA Rural Development, emergency operations centers through FEMA, community policing technology through the Department of Justice, and research facilities at public universities. Each agency account layers its own eligibility rules on top of the general ones.

What the Funds Cannot Pay For

Even inside an eligible account, some expenses are off-limits. Prohibitions vary by program, but common patterns include:

Operational and recurring costs. Most programs will not fund staff salaries, rent, or day-to-day operations. The money is meant for discrete projects, not ongoing budgets.
Previously completed work. You generally cannot seek reimbursement for a project that was already finished, or that will be finished before the appropriations bill passes.
Land acquisition. Several programs, including those under the Department of Justice, bar the use of funds to buy property.
New building construction. The Department of Energy and some health programs prohibit new construction, though limited renovation tied to an approved project may be allowed.
Seed capital and loans. Small Business Administration accounts prohibit recipients from providing startup capital or lending to businesses.

These bans are program-specific. An expense one agency forbids may be fine under another agency’s account, so read the guidance for the exact account you are applying under.

How to Submit a Request

The process starts with the recipient, not the member of Congress. A local government, tribal entity, or nonprofit has to approach its representative or senators with a project proposal. Most congressional offices open a formal application window each spring and provide their own intake forms.

A strong proposal includes the organization’s tax identification number, a point of contact, a full project description, a detailed line-item budget, and an explanation of why the project deserves federal funding rather than state or local dollars.⁴ Some programs demand extra documentation. FEMA requests, for example, need a letter of support from the relevant state agency confirming eligibility.

Community support matters. Letters from local elected officials, resolutions from city councils or county commissions, and other evidence of public backing all strengthen a request. Members are picking a limited number of projects to champion and want to see the community behind the idea, not just the applicant.

Submission Deadlines

Deadlines vary by chamber and by subcommittee. For FY2026, most House deadlines fell in May 2025, with some extending into late May or early June.² Senate deadlines for FY2026 clustered between May 9 and June 4, 2025, depending on the subcommittee.³ Check the Appropriations Committee websites early. The window between announcement and deadline can be just a few weeks.

One trap catches many applicants. A project funded in a prior fiscal year that is being requested again must be resubmitted from scratch. The House Appropriations Committee stated for FY2026 that all projects included in FY2025 reports had to be fully resubmitted.²

Matching Funds

There is no single universal matching requirement. Whether you have to put up local money, and how much, depends entirely on the federal program your project falls under. Some Department of Transportation grants expect a local match, while certain highway safety programs cover 100 percent of costs.⁵ Rural, tribal, and disadvantaged communities may qualify for match waivers or reduced match requirements under specific programs, but the details live in each program’s funding opportunity notice. Do not assume the federal government covers the full bill. Applicants who learn about a match obligation after approval end up scrambling.

Spending Caps and Per-Member Limits

Total congressionally directed spending in any fiscal year cannot exceed one percent of discretionary appropriations.¹ With FY2026 discretionary spending at roughly $1.64 trillion, that puts the overall ceiling near $16 billion, split among 535 members and their competing projects.

Individual members face per-person caps too, and the rules differ between chambers. In the House, each member can submit up to 15 Community Project Funding requests for FY2026.² That number has moved: the cap was 10 when the practice resumed, and for FY2027 the House raised it to 20.⁶ The Senate does not set a numerical cap on how many projects a senator can request, though every request still faces the same vetting and the same competition.

Disclosure and Financial Interest Rules

Public disclosure is the central safeguard of the revived system. Under House committee rules, every member must post their Community Project Funding requests on their official website at the same time they submit them to the Appropriations Committee, and the site must be searchable.⁷ On the Senate side, Rule XLIV requires a full list of requested projects, with the name of each requesting senator, to be posted on a public congressional website at least 48 hours before the Senate votes.⁸

Every member who submits a request must also file a written certification that neither they nor their spouse has a financial interest in the project. House Rule XXIII, Clause 17 directs that certification to the chair and ranking member of the committee of jurisdiction.⁹ The Senate’s FY2026 rules extend the certification to the member’s immediate family, not just the spouse.⁸ A false certification can trigger an investigation by the House Office of Congressional Conduct or the Senate Ethics Committee.

The Continuing Resolution Risk

This is the danger most applicants miss. If Congress cannot pass full-year appropriations bills and instead funds the government through a continuing resolution, congressionally directed spending projects are typically wiped out. Full-year continuing resolutions in recent decades have not included funding for new earmark requests, and they have specifically discontinued funding for earmarks from the prior fiscal year.¹⁰

It has happened repeatedly. The full-year continuing resolutions for FY2007, FY2011, and FY2025 each zeroed out earmarks from the previous year. For FY2025, every project that had been requested, vetted, included in a bill, and approved by committee was killed when Congress passed a CR instead of individual spending bills.

There is no workaround. A project that dies in a continuing resolution has to be re-requested in the next cycle, with no guarantee of selection. If your organization is counting on these funds for time-sensitive work, plan for the possibility that the money never arrives.

What Happens After an Award

Receiving the funds starts an oversight relationship with the federal government. Under standard federal grant rules, recipients must file financial reports at least annually using the Federal Financial Report (SF-425). Agencies may require quarterly or semi-annual financial and performance reports depending on the program.¹¹ Final financial reports are due within 120 days after the project’s period of performance ends.

Some agencies add their own requirements. HRSA, for example, requires semi-annual progress reports for its Community Project Funding recipients and provides training materials to help grantees comply.¹² Missing a reporting deadline can put future disbursements on hold. Agencies generally do not release the full award upfront either; funds move as the recipient meets agreed milestones.

1
U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations. Reforms and Regulations for Congressionally Directed Spending in Fiscal Year 2026
2
House Committee on Appropriations. FY26 Guidance Overview
3
U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations. General Guidance on Fiscal Year 2026 Appropriations Requests
4
Office of Senator Mark R. Warner. Guidance for FY25 Congressionally Directed Spending Requests
5
U.S. Department of Transportation. Understanding Non-Federal Match Requirements
6
House Committee on Appropriations. FY27 Guidance Overview
7
Congressional Research Service. Community Project Funding House Rules and Committee Requirements
8
U.S. Senate Committee on Appropriations. FY 2026 Appropriations Requests and Congressionally Directed Spending
9
Congressional Research Service. Earmark Disclosure Rules in the House Member and Committee Requirements
10
Congressional Research Service. Full-Year Continuing Resolutions Frequently Asked Questions
11
eCFR. 2 CFR Part 200 Subpart D Post Federal Award Requirements
12
Health Resources and Services Administration. Community Project Funding CPF Congressionally Directed Spending CDS