House Republicans say they’re ready to approve the Senate’s $984 billion stopgap spending bill as soon as it makes its way out of the upper chamber. “I like what I see so far,” House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) told The Hill on Tuesday, adding it’s “likely” the full House will take up the Senate’s bill without changes. The CR is expected to be brought straight to the floor under a “closed rule forbidding changes.” - Read more at The Hill
DEMOCRATIC IRE OVER $3 MILLION DOMA FUNDING During an Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee, House Republicans took heat from House Dems for authorizing $3 million in taxpayer money to defend outside legal challenges to the Defense Against Marriage Act – while calling for massive cuts to committee budgets and congressional operations to absorb the sequester cuts.
“At a time when most members … are representing newly formed congressional districts with a need to open new offices or move to new locations, we find ourselves with an 8.2 percent decrease in the very operating budgets that support constituent services,” said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., the ranking member of the Appropriations Legislative Branch Subcommittee. “Yet we spend up to $3 million to defend the Defense of Marriage Act.” - Read more at Roll Call
GOOD NEWS IN HOUSING The number of “underwater” homes has declined by $1.7 million from last year, according to new data released Tuesday by CoreLogic, a research company. About 21.5 percent of households were under water at the end of 2012, down from 25.2 percent at the end of 2011. - Read more at The Wall Street Journal