This year the congressional leadership decided to devote 72 days (a little over two months) to legislative business. This is the least amount of time spent on legislative business over the past twenty years. The results are reflected in the budget update below.
October 1 is the start of the fiscal year so the budget for Fiscal Year 2007 is supposed to be finished, but Congress has decided to wait to make some of the hard budget decisions until the politically volatile election season is over. This continues the “governance by continuing resolution” syndrome. A continuing resolution is not so great for budget programs, because continuing to fund them at current levels usually means at significantly lower levels than under a full budget process.
Only two appropriations bills are close to passage – Department of Defense and Homeland Security – and the increases in these bills will probably crowd out key funding under other bills such as the Labor/Health and Human Services. A version of the Labor/HHS appropriations bill passed by the House Appropriations Committee gives some clues as to what might be in store: it would eliminate funding for 56 individual programs, including important assistance to students, children, and community organizations.
Please go to candidate’s forums in your community to connect with your Senators and Representatives in their home offices during the election congressional recess. Talk to them about what issues are most important to you, and ask them to pass a budget that puts human needs first.
National Priorities Project provides information on how national priorities affect your state and city and communication strategies you can use with your elected officials.
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