April 28, 2014

Welcome Back Congress!

Members of Congress return to Washington, DC today after a two-week recess period. Today marks a nine-week work period where at least one chamber will be in session. But the House will recess again in two weeks, the Senate will take off all of Memorial Day week, and the House will take another recess the

April 3, 2014

First Two FY 2015 Bills to Advance

The first two FY 2015 bills are set to move through the House Appropriations subcommittees today: Military Construction-VA and Legislative Branch. The Military Construction-VA bill proposes $71.5 billion in discretionary spending for the VA and the military construction accounts of the Defense Department, a decrease of $1.8 billion from the FY 2014 enacted level, with

April 1, 2014

Ryan Reveals House FY15 Budget

House Budget Chairman Paul Ryan unveiled the House FY15 Budget today. The measure proposes to cut $5.1 trillion over a decade in a bid to erase the federal deficit, while calling once again for dramatic changes to Medicare, Medicaid, and the tax code. The House proposal would significantly reduce federal support for college access. The Ryan

March 24, 2014

House Budget Resolution Emerging

Congress returns work today after a one-week recess. They face a full agenda that includes figuring out how to respond to the situation in Crimea and deciding if a deal can be found to permanently address the “doc fix,” or if another short-term patch is needed (likely). Lawmakers have also scheduled a number of appropriations

March 12, 2014

Sequestration: We’re Not Out of the Woods Yet

In his FY2015 budget request, President Obama is calling for replacing the sequester but Members of Congress see little reason to open that can of worms – at least for this year. Members from both parties are saying that the two-year budget deal Congress approved in December has reduced the urgency to address future mandatory

March 10, 2014

FY2015 Appropriations Process Takes Shape

Congress returns to Capitol Hill today and will continue to debate what, and how much, help to offer Ukraine in its ongoing confrontation with Russia. The House will attempt to take up a non-binding resolution expressing support for Ukraine, but the fate of that measure is uncertain. In the Senate, members will likely pass a

March 3, 2014

FY2015 Budget Released Tomorrow

President Obama will release his FY2015 budget tomorrow, a month later than usual due to the late work on the FY2014 omnibus bill approved in January. The document is widely viewed as “dead on arrival” because appropriators already have their discretionary top-line number for the year starting October 1st. No one really expects to see

February 28, 2014

Possible New Funding to Train Primary Care Physicians

On Tuesday, President Obama will release his FY2015 budget request to Congress. We learned yesterday – while we were on Capitol Hill advocated for more Graduate Medical Education funding to train primary care physicians – that the President’s budget proposal will include: • $5.23 billion over 10 years to train 13,000 primary care residents in

February 26, 2014

FY2015 Appropriations Season Underway

House and Senate appropriators will begin their FY2015 work this week with the goal of moving all 12  annual spending bills through the legislative process before the end of the fiscal year on September 30th. House and Senate appropriators are holding a trio of hearings this week ahead of next Tuesday’s White House budget release

February 24, 2014

Preview of President’s Budget Request for FY2015

President Obama will release his FY2015 budget request next Tuesday. He is expected to seek a small increase in spending as called for by the December budget deal but he will avoid any “grand bargain” proposals for steep deficit cuts. Obama’s request will stick to the $1.014 billion discretionary spending caps for FY2015 set by

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