Rules Committee Hearing on HR 1363

The evening the House Rules Committee met to formulate the rule under which HR 1363, the DOD FY 2011 funding bill – 1 week CR, will be debated on the floor of the House. The folks over at TheHill.com are reporting that the bill will be voted upon tomorrow providing enough time for Senate consideration on Friday.

The bill will come to the floor under a closed rule with no amendments allowed. Four amendments were offered in the Rule Committee hearing and were voted down on a straight party line vote. One amendment would have stripped the DOD spending portion of the bill, making this just a one week extension of the current CR. The two of the other amendments would have dealt with military matters; forcing an immediate pull-out of Afghanistan and prohibiting US ground troops in Libya. The fourth amendment would have allowed the local government of the District of Columbia to fund abortions with District raised tax monies.

If there is an agreement on a full FY 2011 spending bill before this bill comes to a vote tomorrow (always a remote possibility) the is still a way that this bill could be amended to make that agreement possible. There is the standard provision for allowing a motion to recommit the bill to committee for a directed amendment.