As they prepare to take a two-week Easter break, Congress has
been busy passing bills and resolutions on taxes and spending,
but there are several budget paths converging all at once. What
does all the action really mean? Here’s a guide to what’s
happening: Both houses of Congress this week passed a $1.27
trillion spending bill to keep the government operating for the
rest of the fiscal year, that is, until Sept. 30. Was that bill
part of the process of designing a budget for the government?
No. That bill – passed by the House on Thursday and by the
Senate on Wednesday – was a measure to keep non-entitlement
spending at current levels until the end of fiscal year 2013.
That bill is separate from the plan – called the budget
resolution -- for the new fiscal year which begins on Oct. 1.
This week the House and Senate have each been working on their
own budget resolutions for the coming fiscal year. Recommended:
Senate votes to kill part of 2010 health care overhaul What did
that spending bill have to do with th