CONGRESSWOMAN ELISE STEFANIK
CHAIRWOMAN
The House is scheduled to consider Senate amendments to H.R. 3082 on Tuesday, December 21, 2010. H.R. 3082 was initially introduced as the FY 2010 Military Construction and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Act and approved in the House by a vote of 415-3 on July 10, 2009. The bill was approved in the Senate on November 17, 2009; however, the bill was not signed by the president because funding for the agencies was ultimately provided through H.R. 3288, the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2010. H.R. 3082 is now being further amended and used as the vehicle for a Continuing Resolution (CR) to provide discretionary funding for government activities through March 4, 2011.
The Continuing Resolution (CR) would provide discretionary funding for government operations at FY 2010 levels through March 4, 2011. According to CBO, non-emergency discretionary funding for FY 2011 would total $1.087 trillion under the CR. Presently, government operations are being funded at FY 2010 levels under a CR which is set to expire on December 21, 2010.
In addition to providing continued appropriated spending through March 4, 2011, H.R. 3082 would extend the authority to carry out a number of programs. The bill would also adjust the appropriated spending levels for certain programs. Specifically, the bill would include the following extensions and changes.
Continuing Resolution Funding Compared to FY 2008 by Subcommittee
(In Millions)
| FY 2008 | Continuing Resolution | Increase | Percentage Increase |
Agriculture | 18,093 | 23,305 | 5,212 | 28.8% |
CJS | 51,803 | 56,681 | 4,878 | 9.4% |
Defense | 459,332 | 508,692 | 49,360 | 10.7% |
Energy and Water | 30,888 | 33,870 | 2,982 | 9.7% |
Financial Services | 20,599 | 23,363 | 2,764 | 13.4% |
Homeland Security | 34,852 | 42,555 | 7,703 | 22.1% |
Interior | 26,555 | 32,280 | 5,725 | 21.6% |
Labor-HHS | 144,841 | 169,350 | 24,509 | 16.9% |
Legislative Branch | 3,970 | 4,654 | 684 | 17.2% |
Military Construction-VA | 60,213 | 75,649 | 15,436 | 25.6% |
State-Foreign Operations | 32,800 | 50,774 | 17,974 | 54.8% |
T-HUD | 48,821 | 66,292 | 17,471 | 35.8% |
Total | 932,767 | 1,087,465 | 154,698 | 16.6% |
Last spring, Democrat leaders in the House failed to approve a budget for the upcoming fiscal year for the first time since the passage of the Budget Act of 1974. Instead of approving a federal budget for FY 2011, Democrats ”deemed” a $1.121 trillion budget enforcement resolution that was never approved by the House. Similarly, the Democrat-led Congress failed to pass any of the 12 regular annual appropriations bills to provide discretionary funding for the federal government. As a result of the Democrats’ failure to pass a budget or any appropriations bills, the federal government was funded after the end of the FY 2010 by a Continuing Resolution (CR) which was approved by a vote of 228–194 and expired on Friday, December 3, 2010. Having again failed to take any action on spending legislation, Democrats approved another CR to extend funding and certain program authority at FY 2010 levels for an additional two weeks, through December 18, 2010.
On December 8, 2010, the House approved amendments to H.R. 3082, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act of 2011. The bill would have provided $1.089 trillion in discretionary funding for government operations through September 30, 2011. The bill would also have adjusted spending levels for the 12 individual funding bills. Though the House approved the bill by a vote of 212-206, the Senate announced that it would proceed with consideration of an omnibus spending bill rather than the full year CR. The massive spending bill totaled 1,924 pages, would have spent more than $1.1 trillion ($575 million per page) and included nearly 7,000 earmarks. Facing public outcry, Democrats in the Senate pulled the omnibus spending bill. The Senate amendment to H.R. 3082 would provide funding at FY 2010 through March 4, 2011.
According to CBO, the CR would provide $1.087 trillion in non-emergency discretionary funding for FY 2011.