Rescissions

The White House revised the rescissions package to include a reduction of $515 million to the original package. However, the $7 billion proposed cut to CHIP remains within the new proposal. On Wednesday, June 6^th , the House introduced “the package” and on Thursday, June 7^th it passed, it now heads to the Senate.  We will let you know once the Senate votes on the package.

FY19 Appropriations

The House has been considering three spending packages for Energy-Water, Military Construction-VA and Legislative Branch in what is called a “minibus” appropriations package. These three were put together because they are generally considered the easiest to pass, but this week the minibus package faced some push-back. The White House is concerned because the package has a higher nondefense spending cap. This higher nondefense spending cap was agreed to by Congress in February. This could lead to the White House deciding not to sign the bill once it is passed. Democrats in the House are worried about high spending levels for defense, and that it could come at the expense of domestic funding for programs like medical research and education. It seems that it will be a tense year for appropriations decisions.