Tuesday March 10, 2009 Navivest

The Senate today voted to pass a $410 billion spending bill that earlier today, passed in the House of Representative. The bill provides for funding of the government through the end of this fiscal year, which ends on September 30.

The passage of the bill staves off what could have been a shut down of the government, as the continuing resolution that is currently providing funding for government operations in the absence of a spending bill for the current fiscal year, expires midnight on Wednesday.

The bill has been a major source of contention, as it contains a large amount of earmarks, and while opposition was expected from republicans, there were notable defections amongst democrats as well, including Senators Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Evan Bayh of Indiana. It should be noted that the bill is a leftover from last year, before Obama became President.

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January 14, 2009 ndash; Yesterday Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold introduced S. 222 to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the national limitation on qualified energy conservation bonds and to clarify that certain programs constitute a qualified conservation purpose, and for other purposes; to the Committee on Finance. We expect to see further legislation supporting energy efficiency and alternative energy development. Here is the text from Feingoldrsquo;s comments on the floor:nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr. President, over the past few days I have introduced a series of bills that are part of my E4 Initiative, dubbed E4 because of its focus on economy, employment, education, and energy. Today I am introducing two bills that are part of this effort: the Community Revitalization Energy Conservation, CREC, Act of 2009 and the Energy and Technology Advancement, ETA, Act of 2009.nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; The newest among my E4 bills is the Community Revitalization Energy Conservation, CREC, ...