September 14, 2012
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… Read More
September 11, 2012
House Republicans have released a draft of their six-month continuing resolution (CR) that contains few policy riders and would increase spending slightly for most federal agencies by just over half a percent for the first half of FY2013. The House plans to vote on the CR (HJ Res 117) this Thursday, and would run through… Read More
September 10, 2012
Congress is back in session this week after the long August break and political party conventions. There are few legislative priorities on the agenda before Congress breaks again at the end of the month through the November elections. This week, the House will release and then vote on a six-month continuing resolution (CR) for FY2013,… Read More
August 10, 2012
On August 7th, President Obama signed into law HR 5872, the Sequestration Transparency Act (PL 112-155). As previously reported on this site, in July, Congress overwhelmingly cleared the bill which requires the Administration to report, within 30 days, the effects of the automatic budget sequester at the “program, project and activity level.” The Administration will… Read More
July 31, 2012
Well, it’s official! Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Speaker John Boehner have reached a deal to keep the federal government funded for six months, meaning there will be no threat of a government shutdown when the federal fiscal year ends September 30th. The funding deal would keep government spending at current levels through… Read More
July 30, 2012
The House is not in session today. The Senate’s in at 2:00pm and will hold a procedural vote on the nomination of Robert E. Bacharach of Oklahoma to be United States Circuit Judge for the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Senate then will turn to S 3414, the Cybersecurity Act of 2012. As reported… Read More
July 27, 2012
House and Senate leaders appear to have reached a deal on a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government for six months beyond the start of the federal fiscal year on October 1st. The CR would extend current funding levels through March 2013. The effort, if approved by Congress, will avert any threats of… Read More
July 26, 2012
We may soon learn more about how the scheduled automatic budget cuts, or sequester, will affect federal programs. Yesterday, the Senate passed a House measure (HR 5872) giving the Obama administration 30 days to describe its plans for implementing the $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts scheduled to go into effect beginning in January. The measure… Read More
July 25, 2012
Today US Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA) released a detailed analysis of the impact of sequestration on dozens of health, education and labor programs. The report includes State level information on funding cuts and details the impact in every State. The report will be featured at a rally this afternoon in DC with non-defense groups. Read the report… Read More
July 24, 2012
The House Appropriations Committee has not yet announced a full committee markup for its FY 2013 Labor-HHS-Education spending bill, and now many are raising doubts that it will ever do so. On Monday, Congressman Norm Dicks (D-WA), ranking Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, expressed his belief that his GOP colleagues have “indefinitely postponed” further… Read More
