House Appropriations Committee Introduces Continuing Resolution
On September 14th, the House Appropriations Committee introduced a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government operating past the end of the fiscal year on September 30th. The legislation, HR 79, also contains a total of $3.65 billion in disaster relief funding in response to Hurricane Irene, recent wildfires, floods and tornados in the Midwest and South, the Mid-Atlantic earthquake, and other natural disasters. (This includes $226 million for Army Corps of Engineers flood control efforts and $774 million for the FEMA Disaster Relief Fund.)
According to the Committee’s press statement, “The CR is a must-pass bill that is necessary to prevent a government shutdown and continue federal operations until all Appropriations legislation for fiscal year 2012 is enacted. Currently, the House Appropriations Committee has moved on 11 of the 12 annual Appropriations bills – with six bills having cleared the House. The CR introduced today continues government operations at a rate of $1.043 trillion — the total amount agreed to by the Congress and the White House in the recent debt-ceiling legislation (and a 1.5% cut from FY 11) — and runs until November 18th.” For the text of the bill, go to: http://rules.house.gov/Media/file/PDF_112_1/Floor_Text/FY12CR%20FY11914.pdf
