Fiscal Year 2024 Appropriations

Congressionally Directed Spending

Senator Whitehouse is now accepting Congressionally Directed Spending requests for Fiscal Year 2024.  Requests must be submitted via electronic application by 11:59 p.m., Friday, March 10, 2023.

Congressionally Directed Spending (CDS) provides a unique opportunity to invest in critical community projects across Rhode Island.  Senator Whitehouse invites applications for well-planned, ambitious, creative, and impactful projects that will improve the lives of Rhode Islanders in the following areas: agriculture, rural development, commerce, justice, science, energy, water development, financial services, government, homeland security, labor, health, education, environment, military construction.

Any CDS request that Senator Whitehouse submits to the Appropriations Committee must comply with Senate Rule XLIV.

Only projects based in Rhode Island and submitted by Rhode Island applicants will be considered.  Eligible applicants include units of local and state government, nonprofit organizations and institutions of higher education.  For-profit entities are not eligible to receive Congressionally Directed Spending.  

Please note all CDS requests selected for submission will be made public to ensure transparency and accountability. 

Submission of requests does not constitute a binding commitment on any party nor a guarantee that any organization will be awarded funding from any federal agency through this process.  Furthermore, the submission, review, and approval of applications for federal funding will be carried out consistent with federal agency rules and regulations.

How to Apply

CDS requests for Fiscal Year 2024 (FY24) must be submitted via electronic application by 6:00 p.m., Friday, March 10, 2023.

Each application should focus on one program or project that requests funding from one account.  A single project cannot request funding from multiple accounts.  If an applicant wants to request funding for multiple programs or projects, they should submit a separate application for each.

What does a strong application look like?

Strong applications will showcase how the proposed program or project:

• meets the technical requirements of the chosen subcommittee (more details below);
• tackles a clear need or problem in Rhode Island;
• will have concrete, measurable impact on individuals and/or communities in Rhode Island;
• has a clear and well-justified budget and timeline for planning, development, and implementation;
• will be overseen by an organization that has the staff and resources to maximize success.

The Senate and House Appropriations Committees consider funding requests through 9 separate Subcommittees.  Each subcommittee awards funding from specific accounts, distributed by agencies and offices across the federal government.  Each account carries its own unique goals, objectives, and criteria for qualification.  More information about these Subcommittees and accounts is below.  CDS requests are capped at 1 percent of the total of the appropriations bill, and projects will have to be agreed upon between the House and the Senate before being included in a final bill.

Be Targeted: The more targeted a CDS request is, the better.  The application includes specific questions that address each of the above points.  When preparing your answers, please be sure to provide all the requested information and be concise.  You do not need to provide additional information that is not requested in the question.

Be Thorough: Applicants should ensure they start an application in the online portal with plenty of time to prepare, revise, and submit a complete proposal.

Be Fiscally Responsible: CDS requests are capped at 1 percent of the appropriations bill.  This means that, as appropriators consider CDS requests, they have to make tough decisions between competing priorities.  Enacting a several million-dollar CDS item comes at the cost of several smaller CDS requests that could impact more people or a larger number of geographic areas.

Examples:  Please find a list of CDS requests that were selected for inclusion in the final FY23 omnibus bill and will receive funding here.

Eligible Accounts

A specific list of accounts under which CDS requests were supported in the Fiscal Year 2023 process is available here.  This list of eligible accounts is subject to change pending instructions for the Fiscal Year 2024 appropriations process.  If you submit an application for a CDS project in an account that is no longer eligible once the FY24 guidance has been released, a member of Senator Whitehouse's staff will reach out to you.

Programmatic Appropriations

Senator Whitehouse is now accepting programmatic requests for Fiscal Year 2024.  Requests must be submitted via electronic application by 6:00 p.m., Friday, March 17, 2023.