Congress keeps agencies funded through Dec. 31

• By Rob Thormeyer
• Dec 19, 2005

In a last-ditch effort to wrap up its work for the year, Congress kept itself busy this weekend, passed a continuing resolution keeping the handful of agencies without fiscal 2006 appropriations funded for another two weeks.

Congress on Saturday extended until Dec. 31 the funding for several agencies, including the departments of Defense, Labor and Health and Human Services, and Education. The second CR was set to expire Saturday if Congress did not act.

Earlier today, House and Senate conferees approved the fiscal 2006 National Defense Authorization Act, signing off on $441.5 billion in budgetary spending for the Defense Department and a few Energy Department national-security programs.

The Senate also must approve the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education spending bill, which passed the House last week.