Senate LHHS Mark Up Today

The Senate Appropriations Labor, Health, and Human Services (LHHS) Committee will meet today at 2:30 pm for a much anticipated markup of the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 Appropriations bill. The Full Appropriations Committee is expected to meet on Thursday to consider (and likely pass) the bill. The House LHHS Subcommittee is rumored to markup their version of the bill later this month.

The fact that we may even see two versions of this bill, and possibly accompanying reports, will be progress as compared to last year's situation. As you remember, in FY 2012, the Senate completed their work on the bill – which includes health and education programs and is often the most contentious of all 12 appropriations bills – but the House could not reach an agreement. A bill was never voted out of the House Committee and a report was never issued. This gave Senate staff a negotiating advantage when the bill was rolled into an omnibus and many provisions and report language that were "House priorities" never had...