>> they met on tuesday and hal rogers' office. they also met with the ranking members of the house and senate appropriations committee. on tuesday. they did not meet all four of them yesterday or today. there are still meetings between top appropriators and staff. senator tom harkin who chairs the subcommittee says he has been meeting with his counterparts and with his staff to resolve last-minute issues. there still are meetings going on. that is where the real action is right now. >> tamar hallerman is appropriations reporter for cq rollcall. thanks for the update. >> thank you. >> several live events tomorrow morning. on our companion network c- span2, a forum on the political outlook. that is at 8:30 eastern. at 9:30 a.m., a committee discusses the summer employment numbers. at 11:00 eastern, senate majority leader tom daschle is at the washington center to talk about bipartisanship. >> if i were to identify the singular most important challenge to overcome, it would be that, the notion that diversity is just as available to m

the export import bank from blocking funds, an important priority for house committee chairman hal rogers. the other things not in the bill, there's no provision blocking all funding for obamacare, that's the issue that shut down the government for 16 days in october. however, conservatives can point to the fact that $1 billion has been taken out of the obamacare prevention fund which they've derided as a slush fund that heath and -- health and human services secretary sebelius can dip into to bolster obamacare funding. and there's no new funding for obamacare. >> 2014 an important year for u.s. efforts in afghanistan. how does the omnibus handle war funding? >> it's at $92 billion on the high end, that's what the house was seeking. this will help the pentagon deal with what is a funding cut, about $20 billion in base fund regular ducks from what the house had sought. this is a pretty strong number. aid to the afghan government is limited, there are policy provisions which would require bilateral security agreement in order for full funding for the afghan government. in addition in that s

my friend and colleague in the other chamber, representative hal rogers, is leading an effort to identify ways to lead appalachia out of the cycle of poverty and unemployment through the "soar" initiative and i applaud his efforts. to offer yet another possibility for eastern kentucky, my friend and colleague, senator rand paul, and i introduced the economic freedom zones act to further enable eastern kentucky to lift the burdens of some of the poorest families in the country. our legislation would roll back government regulations and tax barriers to spur job creation and reform failed educational systems to aid disadvantaged children. so continuing my efforts to find ways to assist these rural counties and to give these communities a voice, i'm pleased to introduce today, along with senator paul, the helping expand lending practices in rural communities act, or simply the help rural communities act. my friend and colleague over in the house, representative andy barr, introduced this legislation in that body and i applaud his efforts to see it pass. the help rural communities act would

the key negotiators were 2 veterans of congress -- hal rogers, house appropriations committee from kentuckykulski, senate democrats from maryland. the 2 of them worked in a closed-door setting for several weeks to nail this down, and they are confident they have the support of their respective caucuses to move this thing forward. >> peter, stay with us. we are thrilled to bring in fiscal analyst p.j. o'rourke. we really have to go back to "parliament of whores," that lasted. >> no kidding. >> what is new now versus when you wrote this classic? >> i wrote the book 22 years ago and i gave it to a friend of mine, and andy ferguson, the best political writer, and i said, "would you update this book?" he said "all you need to do is move one decimal place on over." >> are the party's fading away within our massive independent registration? >> no! this is what is so weird. basically, americans are politically independent, and yet the parties remain strong. why? because of their fundraising mechanisms. their brilliant fundraising mechanisms. moronic.ally, they are practical politics, they are usele

that was an important priority for house appropriations committee chairman hal rogers. that's in the bill. the other things that were not in the bill, there's no provision blocking all funding for obamacare. that's the issue that shut down the government for 16 days in october. however, conservatives can point to the fact that a billion dollars has been taken out of the obamacare prevention fund, which they've often derided as a slush fund that health and human services secretary sebelius can dip into to bolster obamacare funding. and overall obamacare funding is held at the postsequestration level. so there's no new funding for obamacare. >> 2014, an important year for u.s. efforts in afghanistan. how does the omnibus handle war funding? >> war funding is at $92 billion, which is on the high end. that's what the house was seeking. this will help the pentagon deal with what is faunding cut, about $20 billion in base funding reduction from what the house had sought. so, it was a pretty strong number. eight of the -- aid to the afghan government is limited. there are poli

priorityan important for hal rogers. that was in the bill. the anger was not in the bill, there was no provision blocking funding for obamacare. downis the issue that shut the government for 16 days in october. conservatives can point to the fact that $1 billion has been taken out of the obamacare prevention fund. thatis a slush fund secretary sibelius can dip into to falter obamacare funding. overall, obamacare funding is held at a level where there is no new funding. >> 2014 is an important year for u.s. efforts in afghanistan. how does the omnibus handle war funding? >> war funding is that $92 billion. it is on the high end. this will help the pentagon deal with spending cuts, about $20 billion in base funding reduction.

i want to congratulate ranking member nita lowey and chairman hal rogers for working so hard to achieve balance and compromise this legislation begins to reverse some of the devastating cuts caused by sequestration. it ensures we avoid the nightmare scenario of another government shutdown and invests in strengthening the middle class by investing in areas like education, scientific research and infrastructure. these will help create jobs and boost our economy which remains the number one priority of most persons -- americans. i'm thrilled that this bill sets the stage for regular order, which i know my federal appropriators so look forward to, and makes sure we can begin to work again together in the appropriations process. it's been a privilege to work with my good friend tom cole, the chair of the legislative branch committee. i'm pleased that the bill includes two critically important initiatives which work to combat the threat and danger of one of the deadliest diseases, cancer. it includes $5 million in that the breast cancer awareness for young women program. as a young survivor,

have worked very hard with ranking member shelby, with the house appropriations committee chair hal rogers and ranking member lowey, and that it is really your leadership in reaching an agreement on this bill to fund government for the rest of 2014 and to do it in a way that will support job creation, economic growth and our national security. so thank you very much madam chair. as you point out, i am a new member of the appropriations committee, i'm currently the chair of the labor subcommittee, and -- legislative -- legislative branch subcommittee. i work with senator hoeven, it's been a pleasure to work with him. for new hampshire this bill includes funding for the continued development of the new ck-46-a aerial refueling tanker which we're very proud is going to be the first round of those tankers are going to be based at pease air national guard base in new hampshire. it also makes investments in the military construction project at the portsmouth naval shipyard and we're very proud in new hampshire of both pease and the shipyard because they play are a very important role in our nati

i want to congratulate ranking member nita lowey and chairman hal rogers for working so hard to achieve balance and compromise this legislation begins to reverse some of the devastating cuts caused by sequestration. it ensures we avoid the nightmare scenario of another government shutdown and invests in strengthening the middle class by investing in areas like education, scientific research and infrastructure. these will help create jobs and boost our economy which remains the number one priority of most persons -- americans. i'm thrilled that this bill sets the stage for regular order, which i know my federal appropriators so look forward to, and makes sure we can begin to work again together in the appropriations process. it's been a privilege to work with my good friend tom cole, the chair of the legislative branch committee. i'm pleased that the bill includes two critically important initiatives which work to combat the threat and danger of one of the deadliest diseases, cancer. it includes $5 million in that the breast cancer awareness for young women program. as a young survivor,