House Appropriations Chair Offers Bill to Avoid Government Shutdown

WASHINGTON — House Appropriations Committee chairman Hal Rogers, R-Ky., introduced legislation Monday that would prevent a government shutdown after Sept. 30, but its failure to raise transportation spending has drawn an angry reaction from Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif.

The legislation, known as a continuing resolution, or CR, would continue funding at current levels for federal agencies, programs and services. The current CR expires at the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. But congressional leaders and White House officials agreed in July to a deal that would extend it at $1.047 trillion for another six months past the November presidential election and through the end of March 2013.

Rogers called the CR “a good-faith effort to provide limited, yet fair and adequate funding for government programs and services,” though he blasted the Democratic-controlled Senate for failing to pass any annual spending bills.

With few legislative working days remaining before the November elections, Rogers said the CR is necessary until a more lasting solution can be sought. Republicans claim the Senate has failed to pass a budget in three years. Democrats disagree, contending they passed a budget last year in the Budget Control Act.

“Unfortunately, with the Senate’s inaction and election-year politics in play, our committee’s bills will not be negotiated before the end of the fiscal year,” Rogers said, “and therefore a temporary funding Band-Aid is necessary to prevent a government shutdown. … While important, this bill essentially punts on the core duty of Congress to complete its annual appropriations and budget work.”

But Boxer, who chairs the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee and co-chaired the conference committee that passed a long-awaited two-year transportation bill earlier this year, fired off a letter to House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, making it clear she is not happy with what she called a “failure to honor” that legislation.

The transportation bill, known as Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century, or Map-21, “maintained current funding levels for the remainder of fiscal year 2012 and included an inflationary adjustment for fiscal years 2013 and 2014,” Boxer wrote. “This increase in funding would simply account for inflation in accordance with the Congressional Budget Office baseline.”

“Congress cannot go back on that promise,” her letter concluded. “The MAP-21 funding levels should be honored for fiscal year 2013.”

The House is expected to consider the CR Thursday, while the Senate will likely take it up next week after Rosh Hashanah, congressional sources said.

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