Train Wreck Postponed for Six Weeks
It only took the House of Representatives 34 minutes yesterday to agree to a stopgap funding bill that will avoid this Sunday’s scheduled train wreck between the Congress and the Administration over spending for fiscal year 1996. Under this continuing resolution six weeks of additional funding will be provided to keep the federal government from closing down when the new fiscal year starts on October 1.
This resolution, which should be taken up the Senate today or tomorrow, will fund government operations until November 13. The impact that it will have on agencies differs according to where that agency’s budget is in the appropriations process. For those agencies or departments where both the House and Senate have passed an appropriations bill, program funding would be midway between both levels, less five percent. (This would be the case for the Department of Energy, NSF, and NASA, and perhaps the Department of Commerce if the Senate finishes work on its appropriations bill today.) If only one chamber has passed its version of an appropriations bill, the new level will be the lower of either that amount or its current year budget. In some cases, the administration will be allowed to spend at a rate of 90 percent of the current budget if the level otherwise set by the above formulas would result in a “significantly reduced” program.
Only two appropriations bills have cleared Congress and been sent to the President: the legislative branch appropriation and that for military construction. Here is a brief run-down on the status of other appropriations bill followed by FYI:
ENERGY AND WATER DEVELOPMENT: Latest information indicates that the House and Senate conferees have not agreed on a final version of H.R. 1905, which funds the physics-related programs of the Department of Energy.
VA, HUD, INDEPENDENT AGENCIES: The Senate finished on Wednesday its consideration of H.R. 2099, which funds NSF and NASA. Senator Dale Bumpers (D-Arkansas) offered an amendment to terminate the space station, which was rejected by a vote of 35-64. This was Bumpers’ sixth annual attempt to terminate the station. Earlier this year the House voted against a similar amendment. For the record, last year’s Senate vote against the station was 36-64. No changes were apparently made by the full Senate from the appropriations committee recommendations for NSF and NASA (see FYIs #127 and 128.) This bill, which as it now stands is almost certain to be vetoed, now goes to a House/Senate conference.
COMMERCE, JUSTICE, STATE: H.R. 2076 has been passed by the House, and is now under consideration by the Senate.
OFFICE OF TECHNOLOGY ASSESSMENT: The stop-gap funding bill has no effect on OTA. OTA is closing today, with only enough money being provided for severance pay allowing a few remaining projects to be completed.
