{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/blog/budget-conference-info-sheet", "Budget Conference Info Sheet", "2013-11-04", "2013", "2013-11", "Independent", "House", "ME", "Angus King", "K000383", "www.king.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Monday, November 4, 2013\n\t\t\t\t Budget Conference Info Sheet \n\t\t\t\t\n                 \n\t\n\t            \n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t  \t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\t\tWhat is the Budget Conference Committee? What is it supposed to do?\r\nThe Budget Conference Committee is a group of 29 members of Congress tasked with ironing out the differences between the House Budget resolution, which the House passed on March 21, 2013, and the Senate Budget resolution, which the Senate passed on March 23, 2013.\u00a0 22 members are from the Senate and 7 are from the House of Representatives. \u00a0Under the terms of the bipartisan deal that re-opened government after the recent shutdown, the Budget Conference Committee is supposed to find agreement on one budget by December 13, 2013.\u00a0 This budget would provide overall funding levels for the government.\r\nFY2014 Budget Conference Committee Members\r\nHouse Republicans:\u00a0\r\nRep. Paul Ryan (WI)    Rep. Tom Cole (OK)   Rep. Tom Price (GA)   Rep. Diane Black (TN)\r\nHouse Democrats:\r\nRep. Chris Van Hollen (MD)   Rep. James Clyburn (SC)   Rep. Nita Lowey (NY)\r\nSenate Republicans:\r\nSen. Jeff Sessions (AL)   Sen. Charles Grassley (IA)   Sen. Mike Enzi (WY)   Sen. Mike Crapo (ID)   Sen. Lindsey Graham (SC)   Sen. Rob Portman (OH)   Sen. Pat Toomey (PA)   Sen. Ron Johnson (WI)   Sen. Kelly Ayotte (NH)   Sen. Roger Wicker (MS)\r\nFrom Senate Democratic Caucus:\u00a0\r\nSen. Patty Murray (WA)  Sen. Ron Wyden (OR)   Sen. Bill Nelson (FL)   Sen. Debbie Stabenow (MI)   Sen. Bernie Sanders (VT)   Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (RI)   Sen. Mark Warner (VA)   Sen. Jeff Merkley (OR)   Sen. Chris Coons (DL)   Sen. Tammy Baldwin (WI)   Sen. Tim Kaine (VA)   Sen. Angus King (ME)\r\nDoes the budget resolution that you are currently working on establish spending levels for all federal programs?\r\nThis is a good question and a common misunderstanding.\r\nThe Fiscal Year 2014 Senate Budget Resolution, which I helped craft as a member of the Senate Budget Committee, passed early on March 23rd, 2013 by a vote of 50 - 49. This budget resolution sets overall spending and revenue levels for the entire federal government but it does not set spending levels for particular federal agencies or programs.\u00a0 Those program-by-program decisions are made by the Appropriations Committees of each house. \u00a0\r\nWhat are the biggest sticking points in budget conference committee negotiations?\r\n \r\nNew Revenues: since the start of Fiscal Year 2011 (October 1, 2010), Congress has been on track to achieve approximately $2.5 trillion in deficit reduction over the next ten years.\u00a0 About two-thirds of this reduction has come from spending cuts.\u00a0 As conference members address the need to reduce our federal deficits and control the growth of the federal debt, conferees are trying to determine whether the deal should include some new revenues to help pay for some of this deficit reduction. In my opinion, the proposals that stand the best chance of being enacted do not include any tax rate increases, but involve limiting deductions, exemptions, and tax credits.\r\n \r\n \r\nSequestration: many conference members have expressed a desire to partially replace the automatic spending reductions, known as sequestration, with different savings.\u00a0 The sequester\u2019s savings are largely found in the discretionary spending portion of the federal budget.\u00a0 Conferees could decide to replace some of those automatic cuts with new revenues and / or savings from reforms to the mandatory spending portion of the federal budget. \u00a0For more information on discretionary and mandatory spending, read the Committee for a Responsible Budget\u2019s Everything You Need to Know About a Budget Conference.\r\n \r\nWill the Budget Conference Committee fix the sequester?\r\nSequestration was supposed to be so undesirable to lawmakers that it would never be enacted.\u00a0 Conferees are discussing a deal that could replace at least some of the sequester\u2019s annual cuts to discretionary programs.\r\nWhat happens if the Budget Conference Committee doesn\u2019t produce a budget by December 13th?\r\nI\u2019m hopeful that both sides see the necessity in coming to an agreement on a bipartisan budget agreement by December 13th. \u00a0If we can\u2019t reach an agreement in the conference committee by December 13th, Congress would have approximately one month before funding expires for the federal government on January 15th, 2014 and be left facing another possible government shutdown.\r\nOther helpful resources", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.king.senate.gov/newsroom/blog/budget-conference-info-sheet"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.6767779123038054, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}