December 2014

Congressional appropriators are rushing to have a final 2015 spending bill finalized by early next week. The deadline for passage of the bills is December 11, 2015 and if a bill is not passed and enacted into law, the federal government will shut down. The House and Senate Appropriations committee chairs, Rep. Hal Rogers (R-KY) and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) drafted an omnibus spending bill for the remainder of FY2015, but the package was slowed down following the President's Executive Order on immigration as Republicans decided to use the spending process to prevent its implementation, The bill now moving forward would fund most federal agencies for the remainder of fiscal year 2015, with the exception of the Department of Homeland Security, which would be placed on a short-term spending measure funding it through March 2015.

The appropriators are also working out whether there will be any policy riders attached to the final 2015 spending omnibus. These could include amendments aimed at weakening EPA's proposed new clean air standards. The ATS Washington Office will continue monitoring the omnibus and will oppose any policy riders to weaken EPA clean air standards.