Senate appropriators may approve their 302(b) spending allocations for subcommittees as early as Wednesday, officially kicking off the fiscal 2000 appropriations cycle even as Congress puts the finishing touches on the FY99 cycle.
Conferees on the FY99 supplemental spending bill for disaster relief and military operations in the Balkans are scheduled to convene at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday. Despite the differences between the House and Senate, House leaders hope to put the conference report on the floor Thursday and get it approved in time for the Senate to send it to President Clinton by week's end.
On Wednesday, the House Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee will mark up its FY2000 bill, with the Agriculture and Treasury-Postal Appropriations subcommittees penciled in for Thursday. When those bills go to the full Appropriations Committee markup next week, the House panel expects to adopt its FY2000 subpanel spending allocations.
According to a tentative schedule, Senate appropriators hope to report an FY2000 defense spending bill out of the full committee May 25, and the Transportation and Energy and Water appropriations bills May 27.
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