Further funding for the Technology Modernization Fund (TMF) has fallen completely off the radar of House appropriators, who did not include any mention of the program in their fiscal year (FY) 2025 Financial Services and General Government (FSGG) appropriations bill approved today by the House Appropriations Financial Services and General Government Subcommittee.
The TMF – which is administered by the General Services Administration (GSA) – was created in 2017 under the Modernizing Government Technology Act to provide money to Federal civilian agencies to undertake tech modernization projects.
Since then the fund has invested nearly $1 billion into 53 projects across 30 agencies, according to figures provided last month by GSA Administrator Robin Carnahan.
For the past several years, annual appropriations figures – or a lack thereof – for TMF have been featured in the House Appropriations FSGG bill. The FY2025 FSGG bill simply omits any mention of TMF.
The Biden administration’s FY2025 budget request unveiled earlier this year proposes $75 million of funding for TMF.
Today’s subcommittee vote marks another rough chapter for TMF on the funding front. Congressional appropriators approved no new money for the fund for FY2024 and rescinded $100 million of existing funding. Senate appropriators had proposed a $290 million funding rescission in 2023 while working on the FY2024 funding bill.
Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., who is ranking member of the House Oversight Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Information Technology, and Government Innovation and one of the strongest supporters in Congress of the TMF program, blasted the FSGG bill approved today as “an unserious proposal.”
“With the majority so focused on policy riders that attack diversity, climate action, and women’s reproductive freedom, it is no surprise they got the fundamentals wrong too,” Rep. Connolly said.
“We must fund IT modernization if we want Federal agencies to safeguard sensitive data and serve the public effectively,” the congressman said. “When we don’t, those programs fail, cyber vulnerabilities are exploited, and distrust in government grows. It is that simple.”
IRS Direct File Blocked
The FSGG bill approved today also offers a major funding cut for the IRS for FY2025 – to $10.1 billion, which is $2.2 billion below the FY2024 enacted level.
The bill also takes an apparent swipe at the agency’s Direct File program, with a release from Republican appropriators saying that the bill approved today “prohibits funds to be used for the IRS to create a government-run tax preparation software that Congress has not authorized.”
Late last month, the IRS said it was moving forward to making the Direct File program a permanent tool after successfully piloting the program during the 2024 tax season.
