On September 13, the House passed, 329-91, the Continuing Appropriations for FY2013 Resolution (H. J. Res. 117). Fiscal Year 2012 ends on September 30. Although the House and Senate have each made progress on a number of FY2013 appropriations bills, none of the twelve annual appropriations bills have yet been signed into law (see The Source, 5/11/12, 5/25/12, 6/1/12, 6/8/12, 6/15/12, 6/22/12, 6/22/12, 7/20/12, and 8/3/12). Congress, therefore, is required to pass continuing appropriations legislation to avoid a government shutdown on October 1. The six-month continuing resolution would provide funding for all government agencies and programs through March 27, 2013.
Sponsored by Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY), the joint resolution would provide a total of $1.15 trillion in annual spending. This total includes $1.047 trillion in discretionary spending, the cap set by the 2011 Budget Control Act (P.L. 112-25). It also includes $99.9 billion in Overseas Contingency Operations funding, $6.4 billion in disaster funding, and $483 million in program integrity funding.
The legislation would increase funding for most federal programs and agencies by 0.6 percent above FY2012 levels, but would fund a number of programs and activities at higher levels. Specifically, the measure would:
