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Articles:

The Budget Deal is Now Law. What Happens Next? - August 3, 2019
Sweet and Sour Shutdown - January 10, 2019
Many Paths Possible for Post-Election Appropriations - October 24, 2018
A Case Against Biennial Budgeting - August 9, 2018
Rescissions Redux - June 5, 2018
A Step Forward on Infrastructure - March 28, 2018
What a government shutdown really does - February 6, 2018
The State of the Union Deficit - January 31, 2018
Executive Branch earmarks: walking-around money for bureaucrats - January 15, 2018
Congressional earmarks benefit communities - January 13, 2018
New year, new budget? ​- January 1, 2018
Year-end budget drama - November 28, 2017
​Appropriations Endgame - October 17, 2017
Dead on arrival? Nope - September 17, 2017
An 8-armed appropriations plan shaping up - August 16, 2017
See you in September - July 28, 2017
Full speed ahead - July 12, 2017
The staggering imbalance of the federal budget - July 3, 2017
Your guide to the coming fiscal kerfuffle - June 6, 2017
Five takeaways from the Trump budget - May 23, 2017
What to look for in Trump's budget - May 17, 2017
Shutdown shenanigans - May 9, 2017

Full speed ahead

7/12/2017

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​Disclosure: I spent 20 years on the staff of the House Appropriations Committee, so I am biased in favor of the Committee and its work.
 
The annual appropriations process got off to a slow start this year. Congress didn’t receive the President’s budget request until May 23 – 106 days after the date the Congressional Budget Act says budgets should be submitted.
 
The House Appropriations Committee is now making up for lost time in a significant way. Its schedule this week includes five subcommittee meetings to consider draft fiscal year (FY) 2018 appropriations bills, as well as two full Appropriations Committee meetings on four separate bills. This means that nine of the 12 appropriations bills the Committee annually drafts are moving forward this week, which makes it as active a work week as I have ever seen.
 
These bills include a multitude of difficult and politically-charged issues (such as the President’s border wall proposal), potentially making these meetings long and drawn-out with many potential partisan amendments offered.
 
As I write this on Wednesday, July 12, the full Committee is meeting on the FY 2018 Agriculture bill and the FY 2018 Energy and Water Development bill. On Thursday the Commerce, Justice, Science and the Financial Services and General Government bills will be before the Committee.
 
In subcommittee this week, these five bills are on the docket: Transportation, Housing and Urban Development; Interior and Environment; Homeland Security; State, Foreign Operations; and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education.
 
This intensely active work week shows that the Appropriations Committee is serious about getting its work done. We should expect to see a similarly busy week starting July 24, with most, if not all, of the bills that are in subcommittee this week being considered by the full Committee.
 
Regardless of whether you believe the federal government spends too much money in these bills, or if you believe the bills shortchange funding for important programs, you should acknowledge how seriously the Appropriations Committee is taking its responsibility to complete its work.
 
The current fiscal year ends on September 30. The late start to the process virtually ensures that a continuing resolution will be necessary to keep the government funded after that date, but the Committee is working hard to deliver bills to the House floor so that representatives can offer their input by proposing amendments.
 
In a week where Washington’s attention is once again focused on new Russia revelations, I believe we should not let the Committee’s efforts to conduct the nation’s business go unnoticed.
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    Author

    Dale Oak’s career in federal budget and appropriations spans more than 30 years. His most recent position with the government was Senior Advisor to the U.S. House Committee on Appropriations, where he was an appropriations process expert helping to guide appropriations bills from initial drafting to enactment. 

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