NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — First District Congressman Tracey Mann is back in Kansas doing town halls this week, but with less than two months left in the federal fiscal year, he said work is continuing on the federal budget.
"Republicans won a majority in the House," Mann said. "When that happened, some new rules went into effect for the House. All 12 appropriations bills have to come forward individually. The last 10 to 15 years, they have come together, collectively, this huge massive funding bill called an omnibus, omni meaning many. All 12 bills have to come out individually, which provides more scrutiny. That's how the process should work. I'm all for that. One of those has come out so far. Last week, we voted on the appropriations bill that funds our military construction and our veterans."
Will they all get done before an extension would have to be made? That remains to be seen.
"The other eleven have to get handled here in September," Mann said. "Time is ticking. There is time to do it, but we're going to have to hit the ground running come September."
This year is also the reauthorization year for the Farm Bill, so that is also due by September 30.
"We've done a lot of listening sessions, a lot of hearings, a lot of work to get the text right," Mann said. "The final text of the House version will come out late this month or early next. Then, when Congress reconvenes after Labor Day, it looks like it will be taken up right away by the House Ag Committee, is what the current schedule is. The same thing has to happen in the Senate. That's where it sits right now."
Mann's annual listening tour to all 60 counties in the Big First wrapped up Thursday.
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