Rules committee to vote on 2011 spending ceilings

A House aide said that the resolution is slated to come to the floor the last week of January, and the ceilings to be put into the Congressional Record later would guide appropriators as they search for cuts to be combined into a continuing resolution to fund the government beyond March 4 through Sept. 30.

Heritage Foundation scholar Brian Reidl said that the word “transition” allows a pro-rating of the spending cut, since the fiscal year will be half over by March.

The GOP had last fall vowed to reduce spending by $100 billion this year, but this month Republicans said that the $100 billion figure was based on the assumption that Democrats had enacted President Obama’s 2011 spending requests. Instead of $100 billion, the GOP will look to cut $50 billion to $60 billion in spending for the second half of 2008.

After the rule is voted on by the House, Ryan has said he will place the ceilings in the Record based on new budget estimates from the Congressional Budget Office due later this month. The House Appropriations Committee will not be able to exceed the spending ceilings when making new 2011 appropriations without its bill facing a point of order on the House floor.