House Sets Spending Levels
House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (WI) announced this week that he would cut federal non-security discretionary spending by 9.3%, or $42.64 billion, from FY10 levels.
House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rodgers (KY) this week also released spending allocations for each subcommittee. The Labor, Health & Human Services, and Education Subcommittee’s spending allocation is $157.02 billion for FY11. This represents a 4%, or $6.57 billion, decrease from FY10 levels. While this represents a smaller cut than the $100 billion pledged by Republicans during the campaign last year, the committee bill will be open to amendments, which means that more conservative members can propose deeper cuts. The House Appropriations Committee is expected to identify cuts to specific programs next week.
The Senate, meanwhile, is not working on their appropriations bills and are waiting for the House to act. Sen. Daniel Inouye (HI), Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, last week told The Hill that he expected another short-term continuing resolution would be necessary in order to give the House and Senate time to reconcile their bills.
Tags: appropriations, budget, Congress, federal legislation