The House of Representatives passed its Omnibus spending bill Monday night in two separate votes. The first was a vote of 253-154, to pass the omnibus’ spending measure; and the second was 206-201 to add $31 billion for the troops in Afghanistan.
Democrats caved to pressure from the White House and cut their original spending bill.
The bill includes cuts to appropriations for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the National Cancer Institute (NCI). When the cut is applied, however, it is more or less flat funding. The Senate is expected to add additional war funds to this bill when it reaches the Senate floor. If they are required to come up with spending cuts to pay for the additional funds, the across the board percentage will be higher, and there will likely be a cut to NIH/NCI.
Even though it looks like the Administration prevailed in this fight, Republicans were still critical of the bill claiming multiple earmarks were attached at the last minute.
I urge everyone to contact their elected official and express their disappointment.
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