Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Monday released the remaining nine Fiscal Year 2022 Appropriations Bills. Monday’s announcement follows months of Leahy calling for bipartisan, bicameral negotiations with the White House on topline spending and the successful, bipartisan passage of the Energy & Water, Military Construction and Veteran’s Affairs, and Agriculture and Rural Development appropriations bills out of the Committee back in August. The bills comply with the topline spending allocation contained in the Fiscal Year 2022 Budget Resolution. Combined with the three bills reported from the Appropriations Committee in August, the bills provide a 13 percent increase for non-defense discretionary programs and a 5 percent increase for defense programs. The five percent increase for defense programs is consistent with the bipartisan National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) reported from the Senate Armed Services Committee and passed by the House with bipartisan support last month. These bills are largely a product of bipartisan work to address both Democratic and Republican funding priorities.
Sean Hocking, Cannabis Law Report, 10/20/2021 03:01:00