Advocacy Associates

Advocacy Monthly - Spring 2027

 Advocacy Quarterly - Spring 2027

Picking a Spring 2027 Fly-in Date

Spring is now passing by, and with the changing weather and seasonal allergies also comes another question for many advocacy organizations—what to do for 2027? Many groups who have held their fly-ins over the past few months may now be in the early stages of scheduling their next spring fly-in, and while we still have a long runway for 2027, one can never be too prepared. For these reasons, Advocacy Associates has some recommendations for those who are seeking ideal timing.

So, what are some items to keep in mind as we stare into the Congressional Calendar crystal ball? (Note: there will be additional recess weeks sprinkled in throughout the year beyond what is outlined below)

  • Avoid January if possible - With the 2026 midterm elections coming up, 2027 can expect to see a high degree of turnover. 57 Representatives and 11 Senators will be running for different office or retiring – this is before we even get to election day to determine seats won and lost. A potentially historic freshman class size will be coming to D.C., and they will need some time to fully establish themselves. Office will be in the process of being staffed up, existing staff may also jump between offices or committees, and existing Members will be moving to new office locations. This will result in January being a particularly busy time for many offices as their attention is split between office logistics, legislation, and supporting their constituents.

  • Week of February 14th – President’s Day is February 15th, this week has historically always been a recess week. (Added Bonus: Feb 15th is the day after the Super Bowl).

  • March Madness - Specifically, March will be a very busy time for fly-ins, and both Member and staff availability will be limited.  Over a 5-week period from February 24 – March 26, 2026, Advocacy Associates organized 81 fly-ins totaling 12,900 meetings scheduled on behalf of 14,490 attendees, a testament to the volume of requests Congressional offices receive during this peak time. This is appropriations season on the Hill, and this type of volume is always typical. That said, organizations without an appropriation request may wish to delay scheduling their fly-ins until later in the year.  

  • Easter Recess – This falls early in 2027. Historically, the week before and week of Easter has always been recess, which would put the weeks of March 21st and March 28th in that timeframe.

  • NFL Draft – Washington, D.C. will be hosting the NFL draft the week of April 18th (round 1 starts the night of April 22nd on the National Mall). The NFL estimated the 2026 draft in Pittsburgh brought out 805,000 fans to watch in person. This will likely result in every hotel being at capacity that week. Those planning fly-ins may wish to avoid scheduling for that week or alternatively would be best advised to book their hotel blocks as early as possible. It would not be surprising at all to also see this week as a recess week on the Congressional Calendar.

  • Memorial Day Week – The week of Memorial Day has historically always been a recess week, which will land on the week of May 30th.

  • Juneteenth – Since enactment as a federal holiday, this historically has been a recess or partial recess week, this falls the week of June 13th in 2027 (observed on June 18th)

  • July 4th Break – This falls on a Sunday in 2027 and is observed on Monday July 5th, so we can most likely count on that week being in recess.  

  • The Traditional 3 – Standard recess weeks for weeks of Labor Day (Sept 6th), Thanksgiving (Nov 25th), and a two-week Christmas break (weeks of Dec 19th and 26th) are to be expected.

 NOTE: The 2027 Congressional Calendar will most likely not be released until shortly before, or shortly after, Thanksgiving this year.

Congressional Updates

Congressional action in the last few months has focused on DHS spending and FY2027 appropriations. The following is a quick rundown of each.

Appropriations

Congress is in the midst of its annual appropriations process. Use the Congressional Research Service’s Appropriations Status Table to follow along. Here’s a brief rundown of the current state of play.

  • The President’s budget request for FY2027 was released in early April, including $1.5 trillion in defense appropriations, a $445 billion increase over FY26. 

  • In April, Appropriations Committee Chairman Tom Cole released a schedule for the FY27 appropriations bills mark-ups, extending through late June. 

  • So far, House Committees have approved the Agriculture, Financial Services, Military Construction-Veterans Affairs, and National Security-State appropriations bills. In an ideal timeline, the House Appropriations Committee would report out the last of the 12 appropriations bills by June 10th, with a June 30th target for the House passage of the bills, but as we know, the appropriations process typically does not go according to plan.


DHS Funding Battle

Congress and the White House have continued to struggle in reaching an agreement over funding for the Department of Homeland Security. In addition to efforts to fund immigration enforcement policy through FY2027, Senate Majority Leader John Thune also is seeking to address funding for ICE and Border Patrol through a FY2026 budget reconciliation process, but the Senate adjourned for the Memorial Day recess without passing that bill.

  • In late January, Senate Democrats announced they did not intend to continue supporting the appropriations bill which included funding for the Department of Homeland Security. A shutdown was briefly averted by a 2-week Continuing Resolution, but eventually the CR for DHS expired, and the department went into a shutdown beginning on Feb. 14th.

  • Democrats sought a DHS appropriations bill that did not fund ICE and the Border Patrol unless certain reforms were implemented, while Republicans sought a CR for full DHS funding. In practicality, the DHS shutdown was affecting ICE operations less than other agencies within the department because the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025 provided ICE with $75 billion. 

  • The Senate eventually unanimously passed a DHS appropriations bill that excluded ICE and CBP on March 27th, but that remained a non-starter for House Republicans, which sought a full appropriations CR, including both agencies.

  • Majority Leader Thune had sought to move past the shutdown to address DHS funding through the budget reconciliation process instead. As a reminder, budget reconciliation allows the Senate to pass legislation with a simple majority vote once per fiscal year per budget resolution, but according to the Byrd rule, the bill must have a direct budgetary impact that affects spending or revenue.

  • The White House wanted to tie the DHS funding debate into its support of Senate passage of the SAVE Act, a House-passed bill that would require voters to show photo identification and proof of citizenship in order to register. Senator John Kennedy sought to attach the bill as an amendment to the concurrent budget resolution in April, but the amendment failed, and the budget resolution advanced.

  • On April 30th, the House moved to pass the Senate DHS appropriations bill that had passed a month earlier; and instead let the Senate focus on their reconciliation bill, thus ending the DHS shutdown.

  • 2 Senate committees released text for the budget reconciliation bill on May 4th, including $72 billion in funding for ICE and CBP. The White House wanted Congress to pass the bill by June 1st, but in late May, the Dept. of Justice unveiled a $1.8 billion ‘anti-political weaponization fund’, which upset Republican Senators, who abandoned plans to advance the reconciliation bill prior to the Memorial Day recess and Trump’s intended deadline.