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The Week Ahead...
Monday, July 13, 2009
6:00 PM
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Following a
whirlwind of
appropriations action in both chambers last week, the
House is scheduled to take up the Energy & Water and Financial
Services & General Government spending measures this week.
The Senate gaveled
in this morning and began debate on the Defense authorization
bill (S.
1390), which recommends a total of $680.2 billion in
discretionary funding for the Pentagon during the fiscal year
that starts Oct. 1, 2009. The Senate Armed Services Committee
authorized $533.8 billion for the Defense Department's "base"
budget that covers regular, day-to-day operations, and matches
the House-passed version (H.R.
2647) with an additional $130.0 billion for overseas
military operations. A summary S. 1390 can be found
here, and highlights of H.R. 2647
here.
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At presstime,
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) and
Ranking Member John McCain (R-AZ) had offered an amendment
that would strip the $1.75 billion in authorized funding --
approved by the committee -- to buy seven additional F-22s.
President Obama has
threatened to veto a final defense authorization bill that
contains funding recommendations for the F-22 as well as the
F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's (JSF's) alternative engine
program.
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The House's defense
package green-lights
$369 million in advance procurement funds for F-22s in FY 2011
and $603 million for development and procurement of the JSF's
alternative engine program.
The final FY 2010
Defense authorization bill, to be negotiated later by House
and Senate lawmakers, will contain only recommended funding
levels. Defense appropriators will draft the actual spending
figures (a.k.a. "budget authority") for Pentagon programs. The
House and Senate Defense appropriations bills are expected to
be unveiled later this month. |
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Headlining this
week's committee action will be the confirmation hearings for
Supreme Court nominee Judge Sonia Sotomayor, which the Senate
Judiciary Committee kicked off this morning. Live webcasts can
be viewed
here. Meanwhile, the Senate HELP Committee will continue
its markup of sweeping health care reform legislation, with
final approval possible on Tuesday.
Across the Capitol, House appropriators
will nearly wrap up their work on the
FY 2010 discretionary spending bills this week, with full
committee markups scheduled on the Labor-HHS-Education and
Transportation-HUD appropriations measures. (The Defense
appropriations bill is expected to be released next week.) The
Senate Appropriations Committee had not released a schedule at
presstime.
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© Copyright
Capitol Hill Reports, Inc. (2009). No claim to original government
works.
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