Another Budget, Another Extension For Congress
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Facing a Tuesday night deadline, Democrats are working to get approval on a year-end budget. The current spending bill expires Tuesday at midnight.
The latest deal, if approved, would fund the government through March.
From Politico:
Filed late Sunday in the Senate after weekend talks, the measure is still subject to a 60-vote cloture test Tuesday. But Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) appeared confident that the stripped-down, 36-page bill will be quickly sent onto the House.
Government agencies would remain dependent on temporary funding through March 4 — a formula that freezes most spending at 2010 levels for the next 10 weeks and guarantees Republicans a chance to force more cuts once the GOP takes control the House and its Appropriations Committee in January.
When all is said and done, the rate of government spending through March 4 will be about $1.16 billion more than the 2010 appropriations, according to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
These figures include an estimated $459 million that was added to prevent layoffs at the Veterans Benefits Administration and to fund extensions affecting aid to Pakistan and the Mideast and for the National Nuclear Security Administration’s weapons program.
It also includes the exception the Obama Administration got for the Pell program, which will help to avoid major cuts to the grant program for the 2011-12 school year.
Some changes could be in store once March 4 comes around. Before Republicans won control of the House in the midterm elections, they said the would cut spending by $100 billion the first year they were in charge.
"Beginning ... January 5th, the American people are going to watch their Congress do something differently, at least in one house," Incoming House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said Friday. "The House is going to become the outpost in Washington for the American people and their desire for a smaller, less costly, and more accountable government."
