March 14th, 2008 by Kent

Following a marathon 15 hour session Thursday that ran well past midnight, the Senate passed its budget resolution for fiscal year 2009 (S.Con.Res.70) in a 51 to 44 vote.  In the preceding hours, dozens of amendments were proposed and voted on, including the Biden-Lugar Amendment (S.Amdt.4245), which passed in a vote of 73 to 23. This key amendment restored the international affairs allocation by more than $4 billion to $39.5 billion, matching the amount requested by President Bush last month.  In a 212-207 vote, the House also passed its budget resolution (H.Con.Res.312), allocating $37.9 billion for international affairs. 

Now over the course of the spring, the appropriations committees will formulate bills that divide up this money among the various programs at the Department of State and for other foreign operations, including all foreign assistance and numerous programs essential for supporting democracy abroad. 

Congressional Quarterly (subscription required) has a good round-up of the various last-minute activity on the budget bills, and the ONE blog has a description of the late-night passage of Biden-Lugar. 

Posted in Foreign Aid, Legislation |