Last night, the House of Representatives released their version of the FY2015 Continuing Resolution to fund federal government through December 11, 2014.
The CR would fund the government at its current rate of $1.012 trillion annually with only a few changes in spending. Those changes include the Administration’s $88 million request to fight the Ebola crisis, providing money to both speed up the development and manufacturing of Ebola drugs and to support medical specialists on the ground in West Africa. The measure does not include any new funding for the child migrant crisis, or any extra funding for fighting the Islamic State terrorist group known as ISIS. The measure would, however, extend the Internet access tax moratorium, boost spending for disability claims processing at the VA, and continue heightened funding for certain eastern European-related programs at the State Department. Finally, and probably the most controversial change, the CR would extend authorization of the Export-Import Bank through June 2015, something that Congress was unable to agree on prior to their August recess.
The CR is expected to move through the House Rules Committee on today and come to the floor under a closed rule without the chance for amendments tomorrow. Meanwhile, Senate appropriators are working through the details of their own CR proposal. We expect to see that proposal once the House approves their CR and sends it to the Senate for consideration. And all of this is expected to be complete before September 23rd when Congress is scheduled to break until after the mid-term elections.