Even as they continue work on appropriations, the House and Senate have still not agreed to an overall spending amount for FY14, which will result in significant differences between the subcommittee bills reported out of the House and Senate Committees on Appropriations. The House is proceeding with marking up bills that would total $968 billion, the level in the House-passed budget resolution, and the Senate is expected to mark up appropriations bills totaling $1.058 trillion. The chambers will have to negotiate a final amount, and Democrats have urged that the two chambers proceed with this step. Democrats have also voiced support for simultaneously negotiating a replacement to sequestration during an FY14 budget conference.
The Coalition on Human Needs and USAction are circulating a sign-on letter opposing consideration of FY14 appropriations bills at the House passed budget resolution level. “Poor families or people with disabilities perilously close to homelessness after waiting years for a rental voucher have been told they will have to wait longer. At a time when we need to invest in education, rebuild infrastructure, protect people from hardship, and jumpstart economic growth that finally reaches most of us, sequestration is taking us backwards,” write the organizations. The deadline to sign the letter is June 25.
Sign the CHN/USAction letter at: http://bit.ly/18tnDYo