December 11, 2006 -- Congress Adjourns, Leaves Domestic Programs at Current Levels

The 109th United States Congress met for the final time December 8 and adjourned for good, leaving all domestic spending programs, including health, without new appropriations for fiscal year 2007. Instead, the House and Senate agreed to extend through February 17 next year the same levels of funding that domestic programs had in fiscal 2006, thereby leaving it to the new Democratic-controlled Congress that will convene in January to decide how much funding programs will have. Republicans on the House Appropriations Committee pointed out that the committee had approved all 2007 spending except for the Department of Health and Human Services before the July 4 congressional recess and had sent the bills on to the Senate, where none had ever been scheduled for floor action. Calling Congress’s failure to pass appropriations "a disgraceful performance," the incoming new chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Representative David Obey (D-WI) said he and the incoming chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) will announce next week how they plan to deal with "the leftovers from this congressional session."