Senate May Avoid Spending Bills

The U.S. House of Representatives has passed six of the 12 annual spending bills for the 2013 Fiscal Year and the Senate Appropriations Committee plans to mark up its 12 bills soon. However - the full Senate may not take up those bills. Sources say the Senate may use one bill to create an omnibus bill to fund the entire federal government. This means Senators not on the committee wouldn't be able to offer their input through amendments. House Appropriations Committee Member Jack Kingston of Georgia says the budget and spending bills are two pieces of the whole - and for the Senate to say the rules don't apply anymore is legislative arrogance. This issue is caught in a fight over the 2013 spending level - as the House passed a budget with 19-billion dollars less in spending than the level set during the debt-ceiling deal last summer. The Senate and White House want spending at the level set during that time.

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