Senate Abandons Fiscal Year 2011 Omnibus – Opts for Short Term CR - December 21, 2010

With critical Republican votes failing to materialize, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced on Dec. 17 that the Senate would not seek to pass a Fiscal Year 2011 omnibus bill and would instead pass a short-term Continuing Resolution (CR) funding the government until March 4, 2011. Democratic leaders were counting on votes from Republican appropriators and retiring members to help break a filibuster of the $1.1 trillion funding bill. The Omnibus bill included $5 million to start up the Community-Based Collaborative Care Network (CCN) program, which was originally authorized as part of the Affordable Care Act. The Senate’s failure to pass an omnibus bill sets up what will be an early battle between the Republican-controlled House and the Democratic-controlled Senate in 2011. Republicans are calling for a cut in domestic discretionary spending to FY 2008 levels, which would amount to a 22 percent cut.