Budget Discussions Dominate Three-Week Congressional Work Period - March 29, 2011

With Congress returning from recess for a three-week work period – ending on April 15 with a two-week recess – discussions around FY 2011 and 2012 budget issues are dominating action on Capitol Hill. The current FY 2011 Continuing Resolution (CR) expires on April 8. While press reports indicate that a bipartisan group of negotiators are nearing a tentative deal on the overall size of a full-year CR, it remains unclear whether such a deal could pass both chambers before the current stopgap bill expires.

Simultaneous to the FY 2011 negotiations, the FY 2012 budget battle will heat up next week with the House Budget Committee releases its budget resolution for the next fiscal year. In addition to curtailing non-security discretionary spending, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) has said his resolution will include significant cuts to Medicaid and Medicare, though it is not clear how those cuts would be achieved. Sensing that the Ryan proposal may not go far enough for them, the conservative Republican Study Committee has said it will debut its own alternative budget, which will include even more expansive entitlement cuts. The House budget resolution will be marked up in committee next week and is scheduled to be considered on the floor of the House during the week of April 11.

While the budget battles are getting the most attention, health care committees of jurisdiction are keeping a busy schedule with subcommittees from the House Energy & Commerce, House Appropriations, and Senate Appropriations Committees all holding oversight hearings on health reform issues this week.