On October 30, the Budget Conference Committee held its first meeting to begin negotiations on the federal spending amount for FY14, which began on October 1, 2013. The committee has until December 13 to issue a report on a FY14 funding agreement. The continuing resolution (CR) that is funding the federal government at FY13 levels expires on January 15. However, the Senate and House appropriations leaders have weighed in on the budget resolution asking that the committee make some decisions earlier than December 13. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) and House Appropriations Committee Chair Hal Rogers (R-KY) sent a joint letter on October 31 to conference committee leaders asking that the committee swiftly negotiate a top line spending limit for FY14 and FY15. “Specifically, we ask that the budget conference, under your leadership, endeavor to agree on a common overall discretionary number no later than December 2 and preferably by November 22, prior to Thanksgiving, to allow the Appropriations Committees of the House and Senate to begin their much-delayed work of coming to a conclusion on the FY 2014 spending bills,” the letter states. They further request that budget conferees include a common overall discretionary number for FY 2015 “so that we can avoid the situation we encountered this year of having two different overall numbers guiding the House and the Senate appropriations process.”At the October 30 meeting, five minute opening statements by the members illustrated the divide between Republican and Democratic approaches to addressing the nation’s fiscal concerns. House Budget Committee and Conference Committee Co-Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) started the conference session by saying, “If this conference becomes an argument about taxes, we’re not going to get anywhere.” In contrast, Senate Budget Committee and Conference Committee Co-Chair Patty Murray (D-WA) said, “Republicans are also going to have to work with us to scour the bloated tax code,” in her opening statement. The committee must address sequestration in order to establish an FY4 spending limit. Senate Democrats proposed repealing sequestration in their FY14 budget resolution, while House Republicans proposed maintaining overall sequestration levels, but cutting non-defense programs more deeply than required to boost defense spending above the sequester level. The committee will also have to wrestle with how to continue to reduce the federal deficit, although the deficit is falling largely due to the budget cuts. On October 30, the Treasury reported that the nation’s deficit had decreased in FY13 by one third below FY12’s level.Negotiations are expected to focus on whether or not to replace sequestration for one year, and the corresponding cuts or revenues that would be necessary both to replace sequestration and continue deficit reduction. While a one year replacement of sequestration has gained some support from members of both parties, there is disagreement on the priorities for modifying sequestration. Advocates for defense funding have proposed eliminating sequestration for defense spending only. Democrats have argued that cuts to all discretionary spending, defense and non-defense, must be considered comprehensively. Conference committee members are also expected to bring up a range of proposals to include boosting the economy, creating jobs, and cutting taxes. While members may propose these priorities as solutions to address fiscal challenges, it is unlikely that the committee will be able to go this broad and deep in the required timeframe. The conference committee will meet again on November 13. Read the letter from Chairs Rogers and Mikulski at: http://bit.ly/Hy7uFM