Appropriations

The Senate voted, 79-16, Tuesday to approve a continuing resolution to fund the government through March 4.

The Senate voted, 82-14, Tuesday to end debate on a continuing resolution to fund the government through March 4.

A narrow government spending bill expected to come up for a vote in the Senate on Tuesday includes language from previous spending legislation that would provide additional money for the Interior Department to conduct offshore drilling inspections.

The so-called continuing resolution includes an additional $23 million for the Interior Department’s newly formed Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) to hire new inspectors and implement new offshore drilling rules. The additional money, which is fully offset, had been approved in a previous continuing resolution and is included in the current proposal. The Obama administration called on Congress to give BOEMRE additional funding in September.

But a provision that would extend from 30 to 90 days the amount of time the Interior Department has to review offshore oil and gas exploration plans is not included in the Senate government funding bill.

The Senate is poised to vote on a measure to fund the government that allows the Navy to buy littoral combat ships from more than one contractor.

The language allowing the Navy to buy from more than one contractor is supported by House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.), but Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is on record opposing it.   

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The Senate is expected to cast a key procedural vote Tuesday on a spending measure freezing federal worker pay. 

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) forcefully defended the abandoned $1.1 trillion omnibus appropriations bill in a Senate floor speech Friday evening and argued that opponents of the bill were wrong to say the 2010 midterm elections were about ending earmarks.

Inouye's remarks came as the Senate approved a three-day continuing resolution to avert a government shutdown Saturday. The Senate is moving toward approving a two-month CR that would fund the government at 2010 levels. The development is a major victory for Republicans who will now have a greater say over 2011 funding.

"We have all heard those who say this election was about earmarks.  Nothing could be further from the truth,” Inouye said. Read more...

Reid decided he wouldn't file cloture on a $1.108 trillion yearlong spending bill after realizing he didn't have the votes.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) introduced a one-page continuing resolution Thursday that funds the government through Feb. 18. 

Senate Republicans have railed against a $1.1 trillion omnibus bill offered by Democrats that would keep the government running through fiscal year 2011. 

"Just a few weeks after the voters told us they don’t want us rushing major pieces of complicated, costly, far-reaching legislation through Congress, we get this," McConnell said on the floor.

"They want us to ram this gigantic, trillion dollar bill through Congress — and they’re using the Christmas break as a inducement to get us to vote for it," he said. 

"This is no way to legislate."

Strident Republican critics of the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill have millions of dollars in earmark requests included in it, according to an analysis by The Hill.
 
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has described the bill as a “slap in the face” that defies the will of voters who want earmark reform.

It includes $109 million in earmark requests from McConnell — the largest of which is $18 million for railroad upgrade at Kentucky’s Fort Knox.
 
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New committee members identified unspent stimulus money and healthcare reform as high on their list of targets for cuts.