WASHINGTON, DC— Congressman Jim Himes (CT-4) released the following statement after the House Budget Committee passed the Biennial Budgeting and Enhanced Oversight Act of 2013 (H.R. 1869). This bill, which is backed by the nonpartisan group No Labels and of which Himes is a sponsor, establishes a two-year budgeting process under which Congress would complete its budget resolution and appropriation bills in the first year of each Congress and conduct an oversight and review process in the second year. Current Congressional procedure tasks Congress with writing a new budget every year.
“I am pleased that the Budget Committee has advanced a common-sense measure to restore some level of sanity to the Congressional appropriations process. While we did pass a budget this year, this was the first time in three years both parties have agreed on a spending blueprint. This bipartisan legislation will help avoid the annual budget showdowns that have defined Congress as hyper-partisan and incapable of governing over the past several years. As a cosponsor of this legislation, I will do everything I can to see it passed into law so that federal agencies and the businesses that rely on their contracts will have a greater level of certainty over their year-to-year funding.”