_That temporary funding is scheduled to expire on Friday" (need an RV, imo:)
December 1, 2010Congress tries to avert government shutdown
The Congress on Wednesday prepared to avert a government shutdown by extending temporary funding for another two weeks as Democrats struggle to complete a more lasting solution.
The House of Representatives was scheduled to vote later in the day on a measure that would fund government agencies at their current levels through December 18, and the Senate was expected to take up the measure soon after.
Though the fiscal year began on October 1, the government has been operating on last year's budget as Congress has failed to pass the 12 bills needed to fund government operations.
The temporary funding has kept national parks open and aircraft carriers afloat, but a wide range of research grants and other new initiatives have been placed on hold.
That temporary funding is scheduled to expire on Friday.
Senate Democrats have been working to wrap all 12 of the spending bills into one comprehensive package that would total about $1.108 trillion, which is $27 billion less than President Barack Obama requested. They hope that figure will be low enough to attract enough Republican support to secure passage.
But their efforts could be complicated by rising Republican opposition to the pet spending projects known as earmarks that have been tucked into the spending bills.
Republicans also are pushing for much deeper cuts in federal spending, and could get their chance to impose them in the coming months if Democrats can't muster the support for an omnibus bill and instead are forced to pass another temporary funding measure.
As a backup plan, House Democrats are readying a temporary funding bill that would cover the rest of the fiscal year, through September 30, 2011. That bill would contain changes to allow government agencies to move ahead with new initiatives, like research grants, that have been stalled so far.
AFP
