On December 8, the House passed, 212-206, a continuing resolution (H.R. 3082) that would fund the federal government through September 30, 2011. Congress passed the current continuing resolution (CR), P.L. 111-290, on December 1; it expires on December 18 (see The Source, 12/3/10). None of the twelve FY2011 spending bills have been passed by Congress.
Although the measure would freeze the overall FY2011 spending level at $1.089 trillion, it would shift funding for specific programs within various portions of the bill. For example, adjustments to the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC), Child Nutrition, and Special Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) would be made within the Agriculture, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and Related Agencies portion of the bill. These adjustments reflect the increased demand for those programs. Child Nutrition programs would receive $17.32 billion, which would remain available until September 2012. Overall funding for programs within the Agriculture spending bill’s jurisdiction would decrease by $724 million to $22.6 billion.
The measure would provide $55.7 billion for programs under the jurisdiction of the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies (CJS) bill, a decrease of $8.6 billion from the current level. The decrease mostly reflects a rescission of unneeded funding for the Census Bureau. A substantial portion of the funding for violence against women programs falls within the jurisdiction of the CJS spending bill.
The bill would provide $513 billion for programs within the jurisdiction of the Defense spending bill, an increase of $4.9 billion over the current level. Included in that amount is $32.097 billion for the Defense Health program, which is $1.6 billion over the current level, and $250 million to upgrade schools that are owned and operated by local education agencies, but located on military bases.
Programs within the jurisdiction of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education spending bill would see an increase of $6.7 billion in the year-long CR, bringing overall spending to $170.3 billion. The increase reflects increased funding for the Pell Grant ($5.7 billion) and Race to the Top ($550 million) programs. The Child Care and Development Block Grant program would receive $2.501 billion under the CR. Child and Family Services programs would receive $9.644 billion. Included in that amount is $44.5 million for the adoption incentive program and $7.549 billion for payments under Head Start.
Military Construction and Veterans Affairs programs would be funded at $75.2 billion, a decrease of $1.4 billion from FY2010 spending. However, within that amount, funding for veterans programs would increase by $3.7 billion.
Funding for the State Department and other foreign operations programs would increase by $2.2 billion to $51 billion to reflect the change from military to transitional operations in Iraq. The CR contains a provision that requires that funding under the Economic Support Fund and International Narcotics Control and Law Enforcement must be made available in a manner that emphasizes the participation of Afghan women and directly improves the security, economic and social well-being, political status, and protection of Afghan women and girls. The CR also would amend provisions of the Disaster Relief and Summer Jobs Bill (P.L. 111-212) to include protecting internationally recognized human rights of Afghan women and recognizing the role they have played in shaping the Afghan government.
Funding for tenant-based Section 8 housing would increase to $14.864 billion for FY2011. An additional $4 billion would be provided in FY2012. The adjustment for this program was made to ensure that low-income families are able to remain in their current housing in FY2011. Project-based Section 8 funding would receive $8.882 billion for FY2011 and $400 million in FY2012. Overall funding for the Transportation, Housing and Urban Development spending bill would decrease from the current level by $3 billion to $64.9 billion.
The bill also includes the provisions of S. 510, the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act, which passed the Senate in November, as well as an extension of surface transportation and Federal Aviation Administration programs, which expire at the end of the year.
