Yesterday, the House easily passed a continuing resolution (CR) that the Senate will likely vote on next week. The House voted, 329-91, to back the CR (H J Res 117) that would fund government through March 27, 2013 at the discretionary limit set by last year’s deal to raise the federal debt ceiling (Budget Control Act), PL 112-25).
While described as a “clean” six-month extension of current funding, the House-backed measure does add billions of dollars in new spending, grants program extensions, and sets funding restrictions. Overall, the measure provides spending for the first six months of fiscal 2013 at an annualized rate of $1.047 trillion for discretionary spending, which matches the caps set in the 2011 Budget Control Act. The plan exceeds fiscal 2012 spending by $8 billion. Most of the discretionary increase ($5.937 billion) would be appropriated in a .621 percent across-the-board increase covering all 12 annual spending bills, with the remainder, $1.992 billion, marked for specific programs. The remaining funding would go toward, among other projects, nuclear weapons modernization at the Energy Department, cybersecurity efforts at Homeland Security, wildfire suppression efforts at Interior and the Forest Service, and disability claims processing at Veterans Affairs.
Source: Congressional Quarterly