CARH’S BROADCAST E-MAIL –
Legislative Alert

November 2, 2011

H.R. 2112, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill for Fiscal Year 2012 Passes in Senate; Coburn Amendment Defeated; CARH Members Urged to Contact Representatives and Senators to Voice Support for the “Minibus”

Yesterday, the full Senate approved a revised H.R. 2112, the Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration and Related Agencies Appropriations bill for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012. The roll call vote was 69-30 in favor of passage. (Click here for the roll call vote details.) The Appropriations legislation is being considered along with several other funding measures (Transportation and Department of Housing and Urban Development (THUD) and Department of Commerce funding). As our October 26 Broadcast E-mail explained, in recent years, Congress has increasingly resorted to “Omnibus” legislation, essentially encompassing all Appropriations Acts in an abbreviated voting process. This year, fewer than all of the Appropriations Acts are being considered, so H.R. 2112 is the vehicle for three appropriations bills and is being called the “Minibus.”

In the same Broadcast E-mail, we also informed you of the Coburn Senate Amendment (Amendment 800) that sought to cut all Rural Development programs by 25 percent. We are pleased to report that yesterday the Senate voted that amendment down by an 85 to 13 vote. (Click here for the roll call vote details.)

Now the revised HR 2112, which started in the House of Representatives moves back to the House and for the House and Senate to enter a "conference" to reconcile the two versions of H.R.2112, and presumably include as part of a budget Omnibus package. Both the House-passed and Senate-passed versions have provisions we do not like. However, at this point substantive changes to both have traditionally not been made. CARH favors the Senate version as it contains language to continue the Section 538 program and also contains a higher Rental Assistance budget. The Senate version also maintains MPR, though just barely.

The current Continuing Resolution (CR) expires on November 18 and if the House and Senate are going to confer, it will have to be by then unless there is a further CR. If the conferees on H.R. 2112 can agree to a conference report, that report would likely be included in the Omnibus and would fund those agencies that would be funded through H.R. 2112 for a full year. Therefore, CARH urges all members to contact their Representatives and Senators and ask them to support the Senate version of H.R. 2112.

Click here for the link to contact your Senator.

Click here for the link to contact your Representative.

If you have any questions, please contact the CARH national office at or 703-837-9001 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .