Senate State, Foreign Ops pushed to October

As the health care debate begins to heat up with the release of Sen. Baucus’ (D-MT) health care proposal, the Senate continues to work on passing as many FY10 Appropriations bills as it can before the end of the fiscal year.  It remains unclear whether or not the Senate will have the time to bring up the $48.7 billion FY10 State, Foreign Operations bill, the largest component of the International Affairs Budget.  If not, then it may be wrapped up into a “mini-bus” bill with any other unfinished Appropriations measures.  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.

Today, the Senate is expected to pass the Transportation-HUD bill, and to begin consideration of the Interior-Environment bill, followed by Defense then Military Construction-VA.  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.  The Senate is on track to pass at least 6 bills before the close of the fiscal year; however no formal dates have been announced for conference committees to meet to iron out differences between the House and Senate-passed bills.  Congress will likely have to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the federal government open until it finishes the FY10 Appropriations process.

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