Senate Subcommittee Reports Out Appropriations Bill

The Senate Appropriations Subcommittee having jurisdiction over Social Security's operating budget has reported out a bill that would fund the agency in fiscal year (FY) 2010 at the same rate as proposed by President Obama. The same amount has already been passed by the entire House of Representatives. The bill must now go on to the full Senate Appropriations Committe and then to the full Senate before going to a Conference Committee to work out differences between the House and Senate. Final passage before the beginning of the FY 2010 on October 1 is not assured, but things are looking vastly better than in recent years when Social Security was forced to work under a continuing funding resolution for many months into the fiscal year. The uncertainty caused by working under continuing funding resolutions has been extremely problemmatic for Social Security.