Capitol Hill- The Week in Review October 31st-November 4, 2011
The first fiscal year 2012 ‘minibus’ was passed in the Senate and has already had its first conference negotiations. The ‘minibus’ includes the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS, Transportation-HUD, and Agriculture spending bills. Funding for research agencies like National Science Foundation (NSF), the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST), the National Space and Aeronautics Administration (NASA), the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) are included in this bill. The funding levels are a match to the already individually considered spending bills. Reconciliation has already begun in conference to hash out the differences between the House and Senate bills.
Upcoming ‘minibus’ activity is rumored to include the Energy and Water bill and possibly another short-term continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government past the November 18th deadline for the current CR.
The Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction is moving slowly with deficit reduction negotiations, despite the enormous amount of recommendations that have already been sent.