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FY16 Appropriations Heats Up

Happy Monday morning from a hot and steamy DC, where the temperature and humidity are expected to rise into the uncomfortable range this week. Thank goodness for air conditioning!

Also this week, the Supreme Court is expected to hand down one or more decisions today at 10am ET, the first of two batches this week. We’re awaiting potentially landmark judgments involving healthcare subsidies, gay marriage, or lethal injection. Regardless of what the court decides on the healthcare subsidies, it will certainly cause a break in regular order in Congress as they deal with the aftermath.

House appropriators will take up two contentious FY16 bills this week: Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, and Interior-Environment. And Senate appropriators will also mark up their Interior-Environment bill, as well as Homeland Security. These are bills that leaders in recent years have shied away from bringing to the floor due to their propensity for attracting highly partisan policy riders. For example, it’s been nearly six years since the Senate has taken up the Interior-Environment spending bill.

But the path forward on appropriations could be affected by what happens in the Senate, where Democrats have threatened to filibuster all spending bills that adhere to sequester budget caps and the Obama administration has threatened vetoes.