Rep. Larsen says he expects full FY 2011 spending bill as next step

Rep. Rick Larsen (D-Wash.) said on Monday that he thinks the continuing spending resolution approved last week is the last temporary spending bill Congress will take up for fiscal 2011, and that a full bill is the next step.

"The general feeling right now in Congress is the last CR we did last week is the last CR of 2011, that the next thing we take up will be a 2011 budget," Larsen said at a missile defense conference in Washington. "One bill done in one fell swoop."

Larsen said the feeling among many is that it will soon become difficult to deal with fiscal 2011 spending while beginning the 2012 budget and appropriations process, as well as take on a pending debate about the debt ceiling.

"It's tough enough to juggle three balls, but to juggle all four balls is nearly impossible," he said. "So I think there is a growing desire and a will to get the FY 2011 done, so we can move on to a whole other set of wonderful public policy issues that we all have the responsibility to resolve."

Larsen said he and many others agree that short-term funding bills are no longer a way to go, given the strain that course of action puts on entities that rely on government funds.

"We all do know that this is an untenable way to fund government for a variety of reasons," Larsen said. "It places strains on our schools, on our infrastructure, on our military, on America's critical social safety net. There's nothing positive about running government on CRs."

For Republicans, the problem might be more political than anything, as 54 Republicans voted against the three-week spending bill last week.