Omnibus Package Likely Needed To Wrap Up FY 2010 Spending Bills, Senate Appropriations Chair Says

Congress will likely have to use a multi-bill package to complete this year's appropriations work, as the Senate will not have time to individually consider the five remaining fiscal year 2010 spending bills by the end of 2009, according to Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), CQ Today reports. Congress has cleared four of the 12 FY 2010 appropriations bills, and three are in House-Senate negotiations. One or more of those bills may still be cleared individually, so a multi-bill "omnibus spending package may only contain a few bills," CQ Today reports.

Senate Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee Chair Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) said that although he would not discount the chance that his bill could pass individually, Rep. David Obey (D-Wis.) -- chair of both the House Appropriations Committee and the House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee -- would like to include the Labor-HHS-Education bill in a multi-bill package.

The appropriations process has been slowed in the Senate because of the debate over health care reform. The government has been operating under a continuing resolution since FY 2010 started on Oct. 1. The CR expires at the end of October, and another stopgap bill will be needed soon, although no decision has been made on the length of time it would cover, House Democratic aides said (Conlon, CQ Today, 10/20).


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