Still at Work on FY09 Appropriations

We received a few more reports from the Hill about the long hours the appropriations subcommittee staffers have been dedicating to preparing a conference omnibus bill for FY 09 that will be taken up in early January right after Congress convenes on 1/8 . They are still aiming to send the bill to the new Prez “… on his first day in office.” Our letter to the Appropriations chairmen and ranking members with our priorities has been circulated to the staff. The word continues to be that they are trying to split the difference between the House and Senate bills, meaning slight increases for several of our priority programs but still bad news for Reading First.