Senate will take up transportation, housing spending bill next week (The Hill)

The Hill
(7/18/2013 3:38 PM, Erik Wasson)

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced Thursday that the full Senate will take up the first of 12 annual appropriations bills for 2014 starting next week.

The bill funding the Transportation and Housing and Urban Development (HUD) departments will be first up, and Reid suggested the Commerce, Justice bill and Labor, Health bill could come next before August recess.

The THUD bill received six Republican votes in committee, so there is a strong possibility that the bill would split the party and gain the 60 votes needed in the Senate to pass. Democrats control 54 seats, including the two independents who caucus with the majority.

Reid said the bill would come as part of an "unrelenting" new focus on the effects of deep discretionary budget cuts that went into effect March 1 in the absence of a grand bargain on taxes and entitlement spending.

There is little chance both chambers of Congress will be able to pass and reconcile the 12 annual bills before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30. As Reid noted Thursday, the House is slated to be session only 17 days for the rest of the year.

Overall there is a $91 billion difference in spending levels between the House and Senate appropriations this year.

For the THUD bill, the difference is $10 billion. The Senate will consider a $54 billion bill and the House is weighing a $44 billion bill, which is a cut of $7 billion from last year.

Hardest hit in the GOP bill is the Community Development Block Grant program, which is cut nearly in half to $1.6 billion — a cut of $1.3 billion that makes its budget lower than in 1975. There is no funding for high speed rail at all.

Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) serves as the THUD subcommittee chairwoman as well. She said the bill was chosen because it well illustrates that impact of sequestration across the country on infrastructure and economic growth.