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Morning Briefing...
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
10:30 AM
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Annual spending bills
move forward. The Senate Interior & Environment Appropriations
Subcommittee approved its fiscal year (FY) 2010 spending measure
yesterday, providing $32.1 billion in non-emergency discretionary
spending for the Department of the Interior, EPA, and public land
management agencies. The legislation matches the funding level of its
House counterpart, and represents a $4.5 billion (16 percent) boost
from this year's level. The White House requested $32.33 billion. The
full Appropriations Committee is scheduled to mark up the Interior &
Environment bill on Thursday. Meanwhile, House appropriators
continued their swift pace on FY 2010 spending items, clearing the
Military Construction & VA and State & Foreign Operations bills for
floor consideration yesterday. The House Homeland Security
appropriations bill is scheduled to hit the floor today. Keep abreast
of FY 2010 appropriations action in both chambers by bookmarking our
appropriations scorecard.
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Climate-change bill
tops the headlines. Despite grumblings from rural state
Democrats, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) has decided to move on a
climate-change bill this week, scheduling a Friday vote on the
legislation.
Health care
negotiations continue. The
"public option" continues to be the primary sticking point
between Republicans and Democrats on a health care overhaul bill.
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House passes several veterans-related bills. The House
yesterday easily passed the following bills addressing veterans
issues:
- Veterans' Compensation
Cost-of-Living Adjustment Act of 2009 (S.
407) - Provides for an increase, effective December 1,
2009, in the rates of compensation for veterans with
service-connected disabilities and the rates of dependency
and indemnity compensation for the survivors of certain
disabled veterans, and codifies increases in the rates of
such compensation that were effective as of December 1, 2008
- Scholarships for
Veterans (H.R.
1172) - Directs the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to
include on the VA website a list of organizations that
provide scholarships to veterans and their survivors
- Veterans Health Care
Budget Reform and Transparency Act of 2009
(H.R.
1016) - Provides advance appropriations authority for
certain VA medical care accounts
- Women Veterans Health
Care Improvement Act (H.R.
1211) - Aims to expand and improve health care services
available to women veterans, especially those serving in
Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom
House defense authorizers release supplemental report.
The House Armed Services Committee has released a
supplemental report accompanying the FY 2010 defense
authorization legislation (H.R.
2647). The report contains the Congressional Budget
Office's cost estimate for H.R. 2647 (as approved by the
committee), which was not included in the
first report. The full House is scheduled to begin debate
on H.R. 2647 today. |
© Copyright
Capitol Hill Reports, Inc. (2009). No claim to original government
works.
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