Heidi Alexander: “this omnibus appropriations bill funds the Federal Government through September 30, 2012, at the level of spending…”

“this omnibus appropriations bill funds the Federal Government through September 30, 2012, at the level of spending agreed to this past August in the Budget Control Act, which reduces overall spending by $2.1 trillion over the next 10 years. If Congress continues to follow the terms of the Budget Control Act, discretionary spending--which is 39 percent of the Federal budget--will increase at about the rate of inflation over the next nine years. Unfortunately, mandatory entitlement spending--which is 55 percent of the Federal budget--is out of control and is growing at the rate of 3 to 4 times inflation over the next 9 years according to the Bipartisan Policy Center. There are some good reasons to support this spending bill. One good reason to support the bill is to support House Republicans. Now that they are in the majority, they are changing the priorities of the spending bills in important places, and that is a good start at reducing spending and changing the priorities of the government. Another good reason is that the bill is consistent with the Budget Control Act. The Omnibus brings total discretionary spending to $1.043 trillion, and it brings total disaster spending to $10.4 billion. Both of those figures are consistent with the Budget Control Act and are a good first step toward getting discretionary spending under control over the next decade.…”