Latest Developments (links to bills, reports, summaries below):
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Nov. 13: House and Senate reconvened with 7 of the 12 regular appropriations bills for FY 2019 not yet completed. Agencies funded by the 7 bills are temporarily funded by a continuing resolution through December 7, 2018. Remaining bills: Minibus III (Int – FSGG – THUD – Ag), CJS, HSec, and SFOPs.
Oct. 15: October 15, 2018: Joint Treasury-OMB Statement calculates final FY 2018 budget deficit as $779 billion, $113 billion more than the prior year. (FY 2018 ended on September 30.)
Oct 3: Senate passed 93-6 the motion to concur in the House amendment to HR 302, that provides $1.68 billion in Hurricane Florence disaster recovery aid through the CDBG (Community Development Block Grants) disaster recovery program to rebuild housing, infrastructure, and assist local businesses. On 10/1, the Senate voted 90-7 to invoke cloture on the motion to concur. On 9/26, the House voted 398-23 to add the disaster funding. | R-Stmt | D-Stmt
Overview (updated 10/1/18):
Fiscal Year 2019 began Monday, October 1, with 5 of the 12 regular appropriations bills enacted:
(1) Defense, (2) Energy-Water, (3) Labor-HHS-Education, (4) Legislative Branch, (5) Military Construction-Veterans Affairs. [See below for links to all bill language, reports, and summaries.]
Seven of the 12 bills are covered by a continuing resolution through Dec. 7 (at FY’18 levels): Agriculture-Rural Dev-FDA | Commerce-Justice-Science | Financial Services-General Govt | Homeland Security | Interior-Environment | State-Foreign Operations | Transportation-HUD. [See below for links to the CR and all pending bill and report language.]
Most notable about this year’s appropriations process is the timely and bipartisan manner in which the Senate Appropriations Committee advanced all 12 appropriations bills — belying the familiar refrain that the budget process is broken. A key factor is the Senate’s 60-vote requirement that incentivizes bipartisan negotiation and cooperation. In the House, however, the majority party can generally advance bills without minority votes and the House appropriations bills advanced largely along party lines.
The Senate Appropriations Committee reported all 12 bills — with bipartisan support — and passed 9 bills on the Floor: a 3-bill minibus: EW-Leg-MilCon; a 4-bill minibus: Int-FSGG-THUD-Ag; and a 2-bill minibus: Defense-LHHS.
The House Appropriations Committee reported all 12 bills — generally along party lines — and 6 bills passed on the Floor: Defense, as well as two minibus packages: EW-Leg-MilCon and Int-FSGG.
Status and Outlook:
[Note on Minibus designations: Minibus packages were initially numbered by Senate Floor consideration. The committees are now using the order of conference report consideration, as follows:]
Minibus I [EW-Leg-MCon]: Conference report signed by President 9/21. (Adopted by the Senate 92-5 on 9/12 and the House 377-20 on 9/13.)
Minibus II [Def-LHHS-CR]: Conference report signed by President 9/28. (Adopted by the Senate 93-7 on 9/18 and the House 361-61 on 9/26.)
Minibus III [Int-FSGG-THUD-Ag]: Negotiations not completed. Further action may resume in a post-election Lame Duck session, or additional CRs could be enacted.
LINK TO UPDATED 2018 SENATE-HOUSE CALENDAR
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