Congress has avoided going over yet another fiscal cliff, with the House passing a “clean” debt limit bill yesterday, and Senate passage happened today. This marks the fourth major piece of bipartisan legislation passed since last October’s 16-day government shutdown that includes the two-year Ryan-Murray budget agreement, the FY14 omnibus appropriations bill, and the extensionRead… Read more »
Earlier this month the House passed two appropriations bills, Milcon/VA, and Homeland Security, both of which the president opposes. No appropriations bills have come to the floor in the Senate. As discussed in my article “Defense Cuts are on the Way: $100 billion, $300 billion, or $500 billion?“, with a $91 billion gap between theRead… Read more »
I’ve been closely following the federal budget for more than two decades, and at no point have things been more confusing, not only to observers like myself, but more importantly to federal managers and executives who are trying to plan their department budgets. A grand bargain on the budget would be welcome news not onlyRead… Read more »
Originally posted at the Government Affairs Institute The continuing resolution (CR) that passed in the House on March 6 was expected to easily pass in the Senate last week (wait a minute; did I just say “easily pass in the Senate”?). Both bills would fund the government at sequester level spending through September 30. TheRead… Read more »
Originally posted at The Government Affairs Institute Both chambers remain on course to pass a largely uncontroversial extension of the expiring continuing resolution (CR) that will be comprised of an omnibus and probably five out of the 12 individual appropriations bills. It will set FY13 discretionary spending at $984b, equal to the sequester level, butRead… Read more »
Yesterday the House passed a six-month FY13 continuing resolution (CR) that maintains sequester level spending for the remainder of the fiscal year, but provides appropriations to Defense and Milcon-VA. The measure, HR 933, passed by a vote of 267-151, would extend the federal pay freeze but grants military personnel a 1.7 percent pay increase. ItRead… Read more »
Originally blogged at Government Affairs Institute With nine days to go, hope of averting the March 1 sequester continues to fade, with each side drawing a line in the sand, and little reason to believe that their differences can be breached any time soon. Last week the President again went on record demanding that anyRead… Read more »
Having barely avoided falling off the fiscal cliff on January 1, we soon found ourselves sliding down a slippery slope toward a dark and gloomy abyss. The sequester was postponed for only two months, the debt ceiling was raised, but only until May, and we continue to hurtle toward the March 27 expiration of theRead… Read more »
Later today the House will vote on a plan to effectively lift the debt limit for four months, removing, or at least postponing, the threat of default. The bill, HR 325, temporarily extends the debt limit without seeking any concessions on spending, and allows Republicans a way to avoid having to actually cast a voteRead… Read more »
Under the fiscal cliff agreement, the sequester has been postponed for two months, to March 2. The agreement also reduces the size of the sequester, from $109 billion to $85 billion, which will be squeezed into seven months, rather than nine. Provided there are no changes prior to March 2, discretionary spending will still needRead… Read more »