AGREEMENT REACHED ON BILL TO CONTINUE FUNDING GOVERNMENT.Byline: David Hess Knight-Ridder Tribune News Wire Declaring a truce in the two-year battle of the budget, White House and congressional negotiators agreed Saturday on a compromise catch-all spending bill to avoid another federal shutdown and keep the government going for another fiscal year. Pending any last-minute hitches in the Senate, where Democratic leaders said Saturday that they might offer some amendments, the accord clears the way for Congress to adjourn adjourn v. the final closing of a meeting, such as a convention, a meeting of the board of directors, or any official gathering. It should not be confused with a recess, meaning the meeting will break and then continue at a later time. (See: recess, session) Monday and go home for the election campaign. The House approved the bill late Saturday night and sent it to the Senate, which plans to vote on it Monday night, just hours before the end of the 1996 fiscal year. The House vote was 370-37. The $600 billion package contains funding for nine major federal departments, the federal courts and includes major reforms in national immigration law This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected future events. It may contain tentative information; the content may change as the event approaches and more information becomes available. . At President Clinton's insistence, it also has additional money for education, anti-terrorism and anti-drug programs. Majority Republicans hailed the deal as an example of their devotion to downsizing (1) Converting mainframe and mini-based systems to client/server LANs. (2) To reduce equipment and associated costs by switching to a less-expensive system. (jargon) downsizing the government and devising ``common-sense solutions'' to people's problems. ``Republicans have restored fiscal sanity to the appropriations process by terminating 290 overlapping programs, cutting bureaucracy, and dramatically curtailing new spending,'' said House Appropriations Committee In the United States government, the Appropriations Committee can refer to either:
Robert Linlithgow Livingston IV, better known as Bob Livingston (born April 30, 1943), is a Washington, D.C. , R-La. In all, he said, Republicans won $53 billion worth of cuts in federal spending. But Democrats saw it as a vindication of their claim that Republicans had gone too far in their efforts to slash social and environmental programs. Senate Democratic Leader Thomas Daschle of South Dakota pointed to some $6.5 billion in add-backs for education and other items that Clinton insisted on as the price for his promise to sign the bill. ``Congressional Republicans have been hell-bent on pursuing a political agenda, usually in cooperation with the far right,'' said Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. Their willingness to compromise on the catchall catch·all n. 1. A receptacle or storage area for odds and ends. 2. Something that encompasses a wide variety of items or situations: spending bill, he added, was ``an election-year conversion. But their constituents aren't going to give them absolution absolution In Christianity, a pronouncement of forgiveness of sins made to a person who has repented. This rite is based on the forgiveness that Jesus extended to sinners during his ministry. , I don't think.'' Only the next few weeks, and the congressional elections Nov. 5, will reveal whether the GOP's strategy of moderating its agenda has worked. But it did make possible this compromise with Clinton, in stark contrast to the situation a year ago. That's when a budget impasse between the president and congressional Republicans forced two government shutdowns, for a total of 27 days, and soured public opinion on the Republicans' drive for major cuts in federal programs and slowdowns in the rate of spending for Medicare and Medicaid Medicare and Medicaid U.S. government programs in effect since 1966. Medicare covers most people 65 or older and those with long-term disabilities. Part A, a hospital insurance plan, also pays for home health visits and hospice care. . In addition to big-ticket items for the departments of Defense, Health and Human Services Noun 1. Health and Human Services - the United States federal department that administers all federal programs dealing with health and welfare; created in 1979 Department of Health and Human Services, HHS , Education, Labor, Interior, State, Commerce, Justice and Treasury, the catch-all bill bars ownership of firearms by people convicted of spousal or child abuse. Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., the chief sponsor of that provision, said it ``could save the lives of thousands of battered women and abused children.'' It also provides added funding for development of a $3.7 billion ballistic missile defense system Noun 1. missile defense system - naval weaponry providing a defense system missile defence system naval weaponry - weaponry for warships , a 3 percent hike in military pay, and more money for the military's drug interdiction operations. Rolled into the big spending bill was a GOP-sponsored reform of federal immigration policy. It beefs up the Border Patrol, gives states more money to arrest and detain illegals, and denies the full range of health and welfare benefits to unregistered aliens. Efforts to withdraw public assistance from legal immigrants was thwarted by the White House, along with a bid to deny public school enrollment for the children of future illegals. The agreement on the catch-all bill means that Congress will have completed work on all 13 of the major spending bills that pay for operations of the federal government. ``It's remarkable what a difference a year makes,'' Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., said. ``Last year this time, we were heading toward two government shutdowns and a state of chaos.'' He attributed the change this year to a ``U-turn by Republicans'' who had been intent on carrying out their agenda for deep cutbacks in federal programs, the abolition of several federal agencies, and the deregulation Deregulation The reduction or elimination of government power in a particular industry, usually enacted to create more competition within the industry. Notes: Traditional areas that have been deregulated are the telephone and airline industries. of environmental safeguards. But Republicans claimed a victory of their own as they plodded toward adjournment A putting off or postponing of proceedings; an ending or dismissal of further business by a court, legislature, or public official—either temporarily or permanently. Monday night. |
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