After two days of various floor votes on the Commerce, Justice & Science bill, the House passed it’s first FY13 appropriations bill. Before officially passing the C-J-S legislation, the House took up and adopted H.R. 5652, the Sequester Replacement Reconciliation Act.  The legislation will serve as the budget for the House for FY2013.

The overall discretionary spending level contained in legislation is $19 billion below the level contained in the Budget Control Act of last year.  It seeks to prevent the impending sequestration of the defense budget with cuts from mandatory domestic programs through the reconciliation process. However, the Senate will not take this path.  There is an overall desire to not fall under the sequester rules that are pending in January, but a road out through both Houses is not clear at this point.