Congress Bumbles Forward on Budgeting
Facebook
The Washington Watch Blog
Jim Harper
12/08/2010
The good folks at the National Priorities Project have a rundown on what's happening with budgeting and spending this week:
In the House, the Democratic leadership is pushing for a CR [continuing resolution] that takes the government all the way through FY 2011, expiring next September 30. Republican leaders, meanwhile are pushing for a shorter CR that would run through the first few months of 2011, when control of the House shifts to the new GOP majority. This would allow Republicans to write the spending bills when they take over. The House leadership hopes to vote on a long-term CR as early as today.
That vote did happen today. H.R. 3082, a military spending bill that didn't pass last year, is the vehicle for the CR at this point. Here is the vote on it in the House today. Close! It passed 212 to 206.
So what's up in the Senate?
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-HI) has been preparing an "omnibus" spending bill. Rather than having both the House and Senate approve each of the twelve outstanding appropriations bills – for which there isn't nearly enough time – Senator Inouye has bundled all the appropriations bills into a single funding package. … The omnibus bill generally funds things at the levels of the Administration's FY 2011 levels rather than the FY 2010 levels used in the CR. So it would provide more overall funding than the continuing resolution. Senator Inouye hopes to substitute his omnibus package for the House CR package when it comes to the Senate for consideration.
So we're in for some congressional ping-pong as this bill bounces back and forth between the House and Senate. Right now, the government is running under a continuing resolution that runs until December 18th.
