Appropriations Slowly Reaching the Finish Line
Congress last week passed another continuing resolution (CR) to keep the federal government open until December 18th, attached to the fifth appropriations bill cleared by Congress – the $32 billion Interior-Environment bill. House and Senate Appropriators would like to finish the FY10 Appropriations bills sometime before Thanksgiving. But with little movement this week, reaching this goal is highly unlikely. The Senate still has five bills, including the $48.7 billion FY10 State, Foreign Operations bill, to consider. Right now, it looks like anywhere from 5 to 7 remaining bills may be wrapped up into an omnibus appropriations measure to complete the process.
