Jul 16, 2012

House Appropriations Markup Scheduled

     The House Appropriations Subcommittee that has jurisdiction over the appropriation for Social Security's administrative operations has scheduled a markup session for July 18 at 2:00. The starting point for the markup is called the "Chairman's Mark." I don't see a sign that the Chairman's mark has been released yet. Probably, that will be withheld as long as possible. By the way, last year's markup session was scheduled repeatedly and then delayed repeatedly for reasons that were never made public.
     Social Security is only a small part of the Labor-HHS appropriations bill, which is usually the most contentious of the appropriations bills. With the mandatory cuts required by last year's budget deal and the bloody-minded attitude of House Republicans, expect howls of pain and outrage once the Chairman's Mark is released. Just hope that Social Security is not too badly affected.

No comments: