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Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Continuing Resolution Coming Soon
We're getting reports that the White House has drawn up a "continuing resolution" that keeps the government funded if Congress, which it won't, has not passed all appropriations bills by October 1st. The CR would set funding at the lower of either the Senate or House-passed versions of each annual appropriations bills.
This CR format will wreak havoc in programs that are funded by an appropriations bill that has passed at least one chamber. Congress used the same format last year to drastically cut many programs .
Fortunately, this format would also preserve this year's funding for the Labor/HHS appropriations bill, because neither chamber has passed a version of the bill. That's good news, because the version of the Labor/HHS bill that the House Appropriations Committee has approved -but the House has not passed- would have made deep cuts to many human needs programs.
This CR would last until November 17th. Congress is likely to extend the CR once more, as the current expiration date may not leave enough time to finish all appropriations bills. That is what happened last year, at which point Congress passed another CR that cut deeper into discretionary spending.
Posted by Matt Lewis
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