Omnibus for Combining Unresolved Spending Bills Likely, Sen. Durbin Says

November 4, 2009 — Senate Majority Whip Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) acknowledged Tuesday that lawmakers likely will combine a few fiscal year 2010 appropriations bills into an omnibus measure to allow for quick passage before the end of the calendar year, Roll Call reports (Pierce, Roll Call, 11/3).

While the House has passed all 12 of its bills, the Senate has passed only seven and has five remaining (Sanchez, CongressDaily, 11/4). The FY 2010 Labor-HHS-Education spending bill (HR 3293) and the Financial Services spending bill (HR 3170), which includes funding the District of Columbia, are among the unresolved measures (Women's Health Policy Report, 10/29). Congress last week passed a continuing resolution to keep the government funded through Dec. 18. Appropriations sources said that the seven remaining subcommittees that have not completed work have been told to make decisions on any remaining issues in the bills by Nov. 13. This would allow the bills to be ready for the floor by around Nov. 16, which is about when the House could generate the omnibus package (CongressDaily, 11/4).

Durbin said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has warned Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) that the Senate will stay in session this weekend if Republicans try to delay consideration of some of the bills. He noted that the Financial Services bill often attracts many amendments because if includes funding for the district (Roll Call, 11/3). Democrats "still hope to finish some of the bills one at a time," according to CongressDaily. Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii) said, "We are going to try our best to get every bill done, but it seems unlikely in this world" (CongressDaily, 11/4).