Congressional Schedule Capitol Hill is quiet this week, with Congress in recess for the winter break. Neither chamber is scheduled to return for votes until January 17.
FY 2012 Appropriations In case you missed it last week, please read AUCD's report on the final appropriations package for fiscal year 2012. The measure, completed on December 17, provides a total of $1.043 trillion for discretionary programs, $7 billion less than FY 2011. This number reflects the overall discretionary figure Congress and the President agreed to when they passed the Budget Control Act (debt ceiling deal) in August. The bill provides $156.3 billion in discretionary funding for Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education programs. This total is $1.1 billion below last year's level and $24.5 billion below the President's request. AUCD is pleased that most of its core network programs maintained current appropriations levels despite the extremely difficult budget environment.
The next step is for the President to submit his FY 2013 budget request to Congress, typically in the first week of February. Once the Administration's budget request is released, the Congress will then begin to develop a congressional budget resolution. The Budget Control Act (BCA) set a discretionary spending cap of $1.047 trillion for FY 2013. We expect House Republican leaders to push for an even lower cap.
For definitions of terms used in In Brief, please see AUCD's Glossary of Legislative Terms.
For copies of this and previous issues of Legislative News In Brief please visit the Public Policy Page of the AUCD website: http://www.aucd.org/template/page.cfm?id=164
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