In a similar manner to the Senate, House Republican appropriators expect to work through FY 2012 spending bills in small batches of bills, often referred to as a “minibus”, in an attempt to avoid having to approve an omnibus spending bill. Representative Steven C. LaTourette (R-OH), noted that House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) told Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) that there would not be an omnibus measure to cover all FY 2012 spending. However, moving several smaller spending packages could spark additional objections from House Republicans as compared to a single omnibus since it may provide multiple opportunities to protest the use of a spending cap of $1.043 trillion, which was agreed to as part of the deal to raise the federal debt limit in August. Some House Republicans would prefer to use $1.019 trillion as included in the House’s FY 2012 budget resolution.

Later this week, the Senate is expected to turn to an FY 2012 appropriations package. Specifically, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) is combining the FY 2012 Agriculture, Commerce-Justice-Science (S 1572) and Transportation-Housing and Urban Development (S 1596) appropriations bills into a single bill (HR 2112), with the goal of completing action on the “minibus” by the end of this week.

Links: H.R.2112, S.1572, S.1596