House Passes Budget Measure to Avert Shutdown

[TomClash]

Source: NYTimes

WASHINGTON — The House on Tuesday passed a two-week budget measure that cuts $4 billion in federal spending, and Senate Democrats said they would quickly follow suit, averting any threat of a government shutdown when money runs out on Friday.

But the measure, approved by a bipartisan vote of 335 to 91, extends only through March 18, allowing little time for the Republican-led House and the Democratic Senate to bridge substantial divisions over how much money to allocate to federal agencies for the remainder of the fiscal year that ends on Sept. 30.

In a sign of continuing partisan tensions over spending, Democrats said that Speaker John A. Boehner had rejected overtures from the White House and Senate to approve a 30-day extension with $8 billion in spending cuts to provide some breathing room for the broader negotiations.

But Republicans said the Senate had already been too slow to act and that the new proposal from President Obama and Democratic leaders came too late since the House was already preparing to vote on its interim spending plan. They noted the two-week proposal was written to avoid a confrontation while providing an opportunity for negotiations over a broader budgetary continuing resolution, or C.R.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/02/us/politics/02budget.html?hp

[ProSense]

1. Well, two weeks while House Rebublicans address their priorities

Think Progress: House GOP Says ‘So Be It’ To Taxpayers, Votes Unanimously to Protect Big Oil Subsidies

[fasttense]

2. What did the Democrats have to give up to get this?

Promise to murder every middle class person over 50? Authorized the mass execution of all the unemployed? Perhaps they offered to throw into a volcano all those awful teachers and union members?

[fittosurvive]

3. Judging from the tally (335 to 91), not much.

[ProSense]

4. House passes bill to avert government shutdown. What's in it, exactly?

House passes bill to avert government shutdown. What's in it, exactly?

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But what’s in this bill, HJ Res 44, exactly? Good question. You can read the text of it here, in case you’re interested. In general, it keeps government spending for most discretionary programs at last year’s level, until March 18, when it turns into a pumpkin.

The $4 billion in reductions are not whacked out of spending across the board. They come from eliminating eight programs that Mr. Obama previously had targeted for extinction, saving $1.24 billion, and cutting out some $2.7 billion in earmarks – pet projects inserted into US spending plans by individual lawmakers.

The programs that are getting zeroed out include the Smithsonian Legacy Fund, which is losing $30 million. This fund, notes a fact sheet put together by the House Appropriations Committee, was a one-time thing meant to revitalize the Smithsonian’s Arts and Industries Building, and it’s not needed anymore.

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