June 3, 2011
Appropriations On Thursday the House passed their FY12 Homeland Security bill, its first FY12 appropriations measure of the year. Democrats have declared the funding levels in the bill insufficient and are particularly unhappy about cuts to homeland security and first responder grants, although some funding to hire/re-hire/retain firefighters was restored by an amendment on Wednesday…. Read More
June 1, 2011
The President signed a bill late last week that will extend the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program until September 30, 2011. The previous extension was set to expire on the 31st of May. There is no increase to the set-aside at this time which will remain at 2.5% for research agencies with R&D budgets greater than $100… Read More
May 11, 2011
Senate Democrats plan to reintroduce the DREAM Act. Just like the previous versions over the past several years, this year’s version will likely authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security (DHS) to cancel the removal of, and adjust to conditional nonimmigrant status, an alien who: (1) entered the United States before his or her 16th birthday and… Read More
May 5, 2011
The Senate convened this morning to vote on a motion to invoke cloture that aimed to limit further debate on the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) bill (S493) and its reauthorization through 2019, but failed to meet the required minimum of 60 votes. There was increased controversy arising from the bill, as amendments attached to… Read More
April 5, 2011
Shutdown Countdown… Late last night, House Republicans announced that they’re prepared to pass a new one-week continuing resolution (CR) extension with an additional $12 billion in cuts to FY11 unless Democrats “get serious about making real spending cuts on a long-term bill” for the remainder of the year. The two parties have been negotiating over… Read More
April 4, 2011
The FY11 budget predicament reaches its climax this week as tea party conservatives and Democratic leaders clash over how much, or how little, to slash from this year’s budget, and whether to include conservative policy riders that limit the federal government’s ability to spend money on things like Planned Parenthood, environmental regulations, and other liberal… Read More
March 30, 2011
Negotiations on the FY11 budget continued yesterday mostly through competing press conferences where Republicans and Democrats traded blame, with little indication of any movement toward a compromise. The likelihood of government shutdown remains high as Democrats continued to argue that GOP leaders were refusing to compromise because they didn’t want to upset conservatives and tea… Read More
March 28, 2011
Congress returns to work today for a three-week session where lawmakers face some difficult budget and spending decisions. The most urgent task remains funding the government for the rest of FY11, with the latest continuing resolution (CR) set to expire in less than two weeks (April 8th). The current CR cut another $6 billion in… Read More
March 17, 2011
** UPDATE 3/17 ** This afternoon, the Senate voted 87-13 in favor of a three-week stopgap spending measure, or continuing resolution (CR), that would keep the federal government funded through April 8th. The new CR includes $6 billion in cuts to the federal budget. Some conservative House Republicans had pledged to vote against the measure,… Read More
March 17, 2011
In a 228-192 vote, the House passed a bill today that will prohibit federal funding for National Public Radio. The vote, which fell mostly along party lines, came after a week-long strong push by the Republican party following the release of tapes by a conservative activist who secretly filmed NPR executives criticizing the Tea Party. The resolution also will… Read More
