Senate Focuses on Spending Bills
As the health care debate continues in Congress, the Senate continues to work on passing as many FY10 Appropriations bills as it can before the end of the fiscal year. This week, the Senate is expected to pass the Transportation-HUD bill, and is expected to take up the Commerce-Justice-Science, Defense or Interior-Environment bills. The $48.7 billion FY10 State, Foreign Operations bill, the largest component of the International Affairs Budget, is not expected to be considered until the end of the month or in early October. Currently, The FY10 International Affairs Budget is on track to be funded at $51 billion, $2.9 billion or 5.4% below the Administration’s request.
It remains unclear how many bills will make it to the President’s desk prior to the start of the 2010 fiscal year on October 1st. No formal dates have been announced for conference committees to meet on the four bills that have passed both chambers – Agriculture, Energy-Water, Homeland Security and Legislative Branch. Congress will most likely have to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the federal government open until it finishes the appropriations process.
