The FY14 Budget Conference Committee is expected to hold its first meeting the week of October 28 and begin to tackle the major fiscal issues encapsulated by the FY14 budget decision. The appointment of the budget conferees was agreed to as part of the deal that reopened the government by passing a continuing resolution (CR) through January 15, 2014. The budget conferees were named immediately after the CR was passed on October 16. The House appointed House Committee on the Budget Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI), Ranking Member Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), and Representatives Tom Cole (R-OK), Tom Price (R-GA), Diane Black (R-TN), James Clyburn (D-SC), and Nita Lowey (D-NY), who is also Ranking Member of the House Committee on Appropriations. The Senate appointed all members of its Committee on the Budget as conferees. The Senate Budget Committee is chaired by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), and Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) serves as its ranking member. The conference committee is charged with issuing a report by December 13, leaving lawmakers a month to legislate final FY14 funding. The conferees must negotiate a compromise between the existing House and Senate budget resolutions, which would fund the government at dramatically different levels in FY14. House Republicans propose spending $967 billion in FY14, an amount level with the Budget Control Act spending caps, but violating the division of spending between defense and non-defense spending. The House proposes increasing spending on defense by further cutting non-defense spending. Senate Democrats propose increasing FY14 funding to $1.058 trillion by canceling sequestration. In order to address FY14 spending, the Committee members must first resolve the larger issues of sequestration and deficit reduction strategies. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget has issued a “Q&A” on the budget conference that describes the formation, members, purpose, and goals of the FY14 Budget Committee conference. NLIHC recommends this paper to advocates who want to better understand the budget conference committee. View the CRFB report on the conference committee: http://bit.ly/1a7i24y The Non-Defense Discretionary coalition, NDD United, is asking national organizations to sign a letter to Members of Congress urging them to replace sequestration with a balanced approach to deficit reduction. “The budget conference opens a critical window to finally enact a responsible fiscal year (FY) 2014 budget that replaces sequestration and reinvests in our eroding national investments,” says the letter. NDD United also writes, “Despite the vast array of important services provided through NDD programs—from education and job training, to housing and science, to National Parks and veterans services, to public health, safety and security—these programs have been cut dramatically and disproportionately in recent years as lawmakers work to reduce the deficit, even though experts agree these programs don’t contribute to our nation’s mid- and longer-term debt problem.” NLIHC urges national organizations to sign by the November 22 deadline. NDD United sent a letter to members of the budget conference committee on October 17, echoing the message that sequestration must be replaced with a balanced deficit reduction approach. In the letter, NDD United co-chairs say that “strong investments in all discretionary programs are necessary to keep our country competitive, safe, and secure.” Sign onto the NDD letter: http://bit.ly/H4s004 View the NDD United co-chairs letter: http://bit.ly/1cfLk8O