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Summary

The Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2008 (P.L. 110-161) was the measure used by Congress and the President to wrap up action on the regular appropriations acts in late 2007. The measure, H.R. 2764, originated as the StateForeign Operations Appropriations Act for FY2008, passing the House in June and the Senate in September 2007. In December 2007, as the first session of the 110th Congress drew to a close, action on only one of the 12 regular appropriations acts for FY2008 had been completed. The Defense Appropriations Act for FY2008 was signed into law by President Bush on November 13, as P.L. 110-116. The act provided FY2008 funding for regular activities of the Defense Department, but largely left funding for activities pertaining to military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq for subsequent consideration in other legislation. In deciding to use H.R. 2764 as the vehicle for omnibus appropriations for FY2008 covering the remaining 11 regular appropriations acts, as well as emergency funding for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, congressional leaders also decided to avoid conference procedures that typically are used to bring the House and Senate into final agreement on a measure. Instead, congressional leaders decided to reach final agreement by means of an exchange of amendments between the two chambers. On December 17, the House began final action on the measure by agreeing to two amendments to the Senate amendment to the House-passed bill. The Senate concurred the next day, December 18, in one House amendment (providing omnibus appropriations for the 11 regular appropriations bills), and amended the second House amendment with the McConnell Amendment (adding Iraq war funding). The following day, on December 19, the House concurred in the McConnell Amendment, thus clearing the measure for the President. President George W. Bush signed the bill into law on December 26. The Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2008 provides $473.5 billion in funding for 11 of the 12 regular appropriations acts for the fiscal year, as well as $70 billion in emergency spending for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, $3.7 billion in emergency spending for veterans' health care, and $7.5 billion for other emergency spending. In total, the act provides $554.7 billion in discretionary budget authority for FY2008. Total discretionary budget authority, when combined with the spending provided in the Defense Appropriations Act for FY2008, amounts to $932.847 billion, a level just at the limit requested by President Bush. One of the features used to constrain total spending provided in the Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY2008 was across-the-board spending cuts. The cuts were not government wide, as had been the case with some omnibus appropriations acts in earlier years, but instead applied to six of the divisions of the act, ranging in size from 0.25% (Legislative Branch) to 1.747% (Labor-HHSEducation). This report will be updated as developments warrant.

Related Legislation:
• H.R.2764

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