Not that there was much suspense, but the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday evening formally adopted a Republican blueprint for slicing almost $35 billion in discretionary spending from agency budgets for this fiscal year. The 27-22, mostly party-line vote followed an hour or so of debate in which Democrats decried the proposed reductions as harsh and Republicans defended them as necessary. The blueprint covers the remainder of this fiscal year, which began in October. Overall, non-defense, non-security outlays would be chopped by about 9 percent. While transportation and housing programs would take a 17 percent hit, funding for the State…
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[HTML1] In response to the press conference, Sen. McConnell’s office released this statement: The only people talking about shutting down the government are a handful of Senate Democrats at a press conference today. (Thursday, February 3, 2011) Don Stewart, Communications Director for the Senate Republican Leader: As Republicans focus on constructive ways for the two parties to work together on cutting spending and debt, Senator Schumer seems strangely preoccupied with the notion of a government shutdown. It is our hope that he soon realizes the only person talking about a shutdown is Senator Schumer. Most Americans and even many in…
Cutting federal spending—at least on paper—is fast becoming Washington’s newest growth industry. Get ready for the latest contribution tomorrow when eight senators release a bill to reduce spending as a percentage of the nation’s gross domestic product. Known as the Commitment to American Prosperity Act (aka, the “CAP Act”), the measure would set a 10-year “glide path” to cap all spending—apparently including funding for popular entitlement programs like Medicare—from the current 24.7 percent of GDP to what a news release calls “the historical level” of 20.6 percent. The lead sponsors are Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Claire McCaskill, D-Mo. Sen.…
The continuing spending resolutions continue . . . To give itself a little breathing room, Congress has approved a three-day extension of the continuing resolution, or CR, that would have expired at midnight tonight. The extension, approved Friday, pushed the deadline back to Tuesday. Before that point, lawmakers are expected to pass one more CR that would run into early next year. The resolutions generally leave agency spending frozen at fiscal 2010 levels; the latest round comes after Senate Democrats could not round up the votes to break a likely Republican filibuster of a catch-all appropriations bill for fiscal 2011. …
The Senate unanimously passed a bill on Dec. 13 that would strengthen the Federal Acquisition Institute and require consistent training standards across the civilian acquisition workforce. S 2902, the Federal Acquisition Improvement Act, also requires the institute’s director be “appointed by and report directly to” the Office of Federal Procurement Policy administrator. The bill would allow greater flexibility in spending dollars from the Acquisition Workforce Training Fund, which is financed by fees collected from non- Defense Department governmentwide contracts. The bill would instruct all civilian acquisition training and internship programs to align with standards set through the institute by the…
Happy Friday! On a voice vote Thursday evening, the Senate passed a continuing spending resolution to keep the government in business through Dec. 18. The House had approved the resolution Wednesday. It will extend a similar measure that was set to expire Friday at midnight, so no government shutdown for at least another two weeks. Like its predecessor, this new resolution basically keeps spending at fiscal 2010 levels. Since Congress is not likely to finish up work on a dozen fiscal 2011 appropriations bills in the week before Christmas, there will probably be at least one more continuing resolution to push…
The Washington Post just posted this gripping story detailing the aftermath of the August plane crash that claimed the life of former Sen. Ted Stevens and very nearly killed former NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe. There’s some harrowing details as the survivors take stock of their injuries and lost friends family members, but also some inspiring strength on display. The job of searching the plane fell to 13-year-old Willy Phillips, who had a battered and broken ankle but was the only one able to move. “Where’s my dad?” he asked. “He’s right here with me,” O’Keefe responded, leaving it at that.…
An extension of the federal research and development tax credits and passage of a comprehensive cybersecurity bill top the list of priorities that trade group TechAmerica is calling on Congress to take up during the lame-duck session. TechAmerica president Phil Bond said he is hopeful the tax credit will see some action given that the White House has been supportive of a strengthened and permanent measure. Bond said the credit “needs to go, and it needs to stand on its own.” “It’s overdue and, again, it’s jobs for today and competitive edge for tomorrow.” Officially known as the research and…
Stephen Colbert’s appearance before a House committee hearing on migrant workers got off to a weird start this morning. Right off the bat, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., tried to kick Colbert out of the hearing, but Chairwoman Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., insisted he stay. His opening statement featured the same absurd leaps in logic and clever wordplay he employs night after night on his show, and had some very funny lines. (For example: “My great-grandfather did not travel across 4,000 miles of Atlantic ocean to see this country overrun by immigrants. He did it because he killed a man back in…
The National Treasury Employees Union is the first union out of the gate responding to the GOP’s promise to freeze non-security federal hiring if they retake one or both houses of Congress. NTEU President Colleen Kelley just released a statement that said the freeze would “result in less effective, less efficient services being provided to the public.” Even under a hiring freeze the work of the federal government would still have to be done, as the American public expects. But without sufficient staffing, federal agencies would be forced to turn to unaccountable and costly private contractors. This would return our…