February 2, 2012
Senate Republicans are posed today to initiate an effort to block automatic budget cuts scheduled to take place next January. They will propose replacing the first year of the spending “sequester” with a plan to shrink federal employment and extend a pay freeze on government workers. The effort is an attempt to stave off what… Read More
February 2, 2012
Automatic spending cuts, or sequestration, was established through the Budget Control Act passed by Congress last August and is set to go into effect January 2013. The sequestration process has great implications for all federal discretionary programs, including most – if not all – of federally funded research programs. Below is a link to a… Read More
February 1, 2012
House Republicans released the text of their much-anticipated $260 billion, four-and-a-half-year surface transportation reauthorization bill last night. You can read the text of the bill here (PDF). Legislation action on the draft bill begins in earnest today as the House Natural Resources Committee marks up the bill’s energy title. That markup, starting at 10 am… Read More
December 15, 2011
After negotiations late into the night and leaders finally reaching an agreement, the House today released the conference report containing details for the remaining nine spending bills. The House is expected to vote on the package this afternoon and then send it to the Senate for quick passage. It looks like Congress will remain through… Read More
December 5, 2011
The Week Ahead The House is in at noon today, though no votes are expected. Eight bills will be considered under suspension of the rules. House Republicans will try to move forward on a deal to extend the expiring payroll tax cut and could hold a vote this week. The Senate’s in at 2 pm… Read More
November 21, 2011
After a long weekend of negotiations and finger pointing, members of the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction are all but ready to admit failure. They will continue to work through the day Monday, but it appears unlikely that the eleventh-hour negotiations will yield a budget agreement before the deadline later tonight. The barriers to… Read More
November 17, 2011
The House begins work at 10:00 am. They plan to debate and hold votes in the afternoon on a constitutional balanced budget amendment, and the first minibus appropriations bill for the Departments of Agriculture, Commerce- Justice-Science, and Transportation-HUD. This measure also contains a new continuing resolution (CR) to extend through December 16th. The Senate will… Read More
November 15, 2011
The House will vote this week on the final conference report on the FY12 Agriculture, Commerce/Justice/Science (CJS), and Transportation/Housing and Urban Development (THUD) Appropriations bill – also known as the “Mini-bus” (House Report 112-284). The package also contains a Continuing Resolution (CR) to avoid a government shutdown and continue federal operations until December 16, 2011… Read More
November 14, 2011
Happy Monday morning! It will be a busy week in Washington, DC with the continuing resolution (CR) expiring on Friday, appropriators scrambling to approve at least one “mini-bus” before week’s end, the Joint Deficit Reduction Committee deadline looming next week, the House taking action on a balanced budget amendment, and Obama announcing the next phase… Read More
October 27, 2011
The Office of Federal Relations Team is not making any holiday plans – for now – as it now looks like Congress won’t wrap up annual appropriations work nor consider recommendations for long-term deficit until just before Christmas. House appropriators may try to expedite completion of overdue FY12 appropriations bills by adding one or two… Read More
