| Author | Message | ||
     Ashton Side Hero Username: Ashton Post Number: 7180 Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 66.90.104.94 Rating: N/A |
http://www.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/09/29/congress.continuing.r esolution/index.html Washington (Cnnmoney.Com) -- On a 69 to 30 vote, the Senate Wednesday approved a $219 billion measure to keep the government operating until December 3. The bill would fund the budget just $9 billion shy of current levels, due to savings in Census Bureau funding and military base closings. Most other government agencies and programs will be funded at current rates. Now the bill goes to the House, which is expected to vote later Wednesday. If Congress doesn't pass the funding bill, the federal government would shut down on Friday, which is the first day of fiscal year 2011. And that would have been hard for lawmakers to defend when they leave town this weekend to campaign for the November 2 midterm elections. The 11th-hour scramble occurred because lawmakers failed to approve a federal budget in time for the new year. Some agencies are due to get a bit more funding: -- The agency that oversees offshore drilling will get $25 million more. -- A program funding Pakistan counterinsurgency programs will get $700 million more. -- Congress will also extend maximum loan limits for high cost areas for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at $729,750 through next September 30. And they'll maintain loan limits for federally-insured reverse mortgages for high cost areas at $625,500. The same limits will also be extended to loans insured by the Federal Housing Administration. They were set to expire at year's end. It's hardly the first time. In fact, tardy federal budgets have been par for the course for most of the past 35 years. The continuing resolution -- a "CR" in congressional lingo -- authorizes the heads of government agencies to obligate money they need to spend to carry out their agencies' work, whether through signing contracts, making purchases or hiring people. While it's not unusual for Congress to turn in a federal budget past the deadline, there's a somewhat new twist in the old procrastination dance this year. That's because neither the House nor the Senate have even passed a formal budget resolution, which typically is done in the spring before the appropriations committees decide how to allocate federal funds. The budget resolution sets caps for spending, establishes revenue targets and generally serves as a five- to 10-year blueprint of congressional priorities for the appropriations and tax committees to follow. To date, the House has passed two of the 12 appropriations bills for 2011. The Senate hasn't passed any, but 11 of the 12 spending bills have been approved by the Appropriations Committee. But it's a long way to the finish line for legislators. And there is still no consensus within or between the House and Senate on what the specific cap should be on discretionary spending for next year. All told, the CBO estimates that the 2011 budget will total $3.7 trillion based on policies that were in place this summer. A little less than a third of that would go to discretionary spending and the rest would go to entitlement programs such as Medicare and interest on the country's debt | ||
| Ashton Side Hero Username: Ashton Post Number: 7179 Registered: 05-2008 Posted From: 66.90.104.94 Rating: N/A |
Senate approves a $219 billion measure to keep government operating until December 3. The bill now goes to the House. http://www.cnn.com/ |
