Appropriations Continue, Agenda Heating Up

Legislative Update

• House: Appropriations Victories, Defeats
• Senate: Energy Completed, Immigration
• S. 5 Veto Override
• Global Warming
• August Recess Pressure

The House of Representatives did not live up to its own expectations for finishing most of the approprations bills in June. When the majority tried to jack up America with it's secret earmark plan, the minority decided to fight back and jack up the majority's plan instead until the problem was fixed.

This has set the appropriations calendar further back from where it was already behind. Once the appropriations bills got moving, there were three losses in the State, Foreign Operations bill, and three wins in the Financial Services bill.

The Senate finished its work on an energy bill, tried again on immigration, and passed a Title V abstinence extension. Praise the Lord the Senate did not go to conference on troublesome legislation such as S. 1, lobbying reform, and S. 4, the 9/11 Commission bill.

Now that Wyoming once again has two senators, upon its return from the Independence Day recess, the Senate is expected to take up the veto override attempt of S. 5, the embryonic stem cell bill.

Given that the House has only completed work on half the appropriations bills, and none of them have been sent to the President, much less signed into law, all these must-pass bills remain high priority prayer targets.

Congress doesn't go on vacation until August, and even that's not a sure thing. The majority also intends to take up global warming legislation of some time this month.