On June 5, the House voted 214 to 210 to adopt the FY09 Concurrent Budget Resolution Conference Report (S. Con. Res. 70). The day before, the Senate adopted the same resolution by a vote of 48 to 45. The votes were largely along party lines.  The conference report provides $1.012 trillion in base FY09 discretionary spending, which is $20 billion above the $991.6 billion requested by the Administration. As reported earlier, the conference report provides $38.3 billion in recommended funding for the FY09 International Affairs Budget. This funding level is:

• $1.5 billion below the Administration’s request; and
• $4 billion above the FY08 enacted level of $34.3 billion.

Approval of the budget resolution formally kicks-offs the annual appropriations process. Although the 12 subcommittee chairs have received the 302(b) allocations that specify each bill’s discretionary spending limit, the allocations have not been publicly disclosed. A formal announcement is expected next week as the House Appropriations Committee begins to mark-up the FY09 appropriations bills.  The Senate is not expected to begin consideration of its appropriations bills until later this month or early in July. Senate 302(b) allocations are expected to be announced sometime before then.