Bills Introduced – 03-05-13

We are starting to see the spending bills that would provide for keeping the government in operation for the remainder of the fiscal year. Two were introduced yesterday:

S 444 Latest Title: A bill making appropriations for the Department of Defense for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2013, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Sen Collins, Susan M. (R,ME)

HR 933 Latest Title: Making appropriations for the Department of Defense, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and other departments and agencies for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2013, and for other purposes. Sponsor: Rep Rogers, Harold (R,KY)

These first two bills start with DOD spending. Presumably S 444 will be similar to HR 993 (that I briefly covered last night) in that it will adjust the DOD spending base so that the sequestration won’t be quite so painful. It is not yet clear that S 444 will also be the Senate vehicle for the FY 2013 CR for the remainder of the government.

It is odd that Sen. Collins is the sponsor for S 444 since she is not the ranking member on the Senate Appropriations Committee. She is, however, a well-known consensus builder, so that could be the reason she was chosen to be the author of this bill.

NOTE: S 444 will never actually make it to the House. All spending bills must ‘originate’ in the House. It could be voted upon in the Senate at some point and then the language substituted into a House originated bill like HR 933.