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Congress plans to pass stop-gap funding bill

Posted on: Tuesday, 27 September 2005, 00:40 CDT

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Congress must pass an emergency, stop-gap funding bill this week to prevent federal agencies from shutting down at the start of the new fiscal year on Saturday.

The action is needed because lawmakers have finished only two of the dozen separate spending bills that would fund the government in fiscal 2006.

As a result, the House of Representatives and Senate are crafting "continuing resolution" legislation that would maintain government services until those individual bills are enacted.

"This week, we need to address the continuing resolution as we end the fiscal year," Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said on Monday.

House and Senate aides said the stop-gap money bill might extend until November 18 and would fund agencies at the current-year level, unless a lower level has been preliminarily approved by the House or Senate.

Besides a bill to keep Congress operating in the new year, the only other spending measure enacted for the new fiscal year was a $26.3 billion environmental spending bill. That measure funds the Environmental Protection Agency, Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service and related agencies for the year starting October 1.

The House finished its work on all fiscal 2006 funding bills this summer. But the Senate, preoccupied with the confirmation of a chief justice and emergency aid for hurricane victims, has fallen behind.

Frist said that after the continuing resolution is passed, the Senate will get back to the individual bills that would provide funds through September 30, 2006.

Next up, Frist said, is a $440.2 billion spending bill for the military, which includes $50 billion in emergency funds for the war in Iraq.

Other major bills still to be completed would fund domestic security, agriculture, foreign aid, veterans and health programs.

In late 1995 and early 1996, then President Bill Clinton engaged in a budget struggle with congressional Republicans that led to a series of government closures. A public backlash against the Republican-controlled House at the time has made politicians shy away from such funding battles since then.

Source: REUTERS

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