Immediately following the passage of a House budget resolution last week, the Appropriations Committee (and its relevant subcommittees) got down to business and passed its first four appropriations bills. Although the House is once again off to a blistering pace, the lack of a final budget resolution a jam-packed Senate calendar and a short legislative session, will almost definitely delay appropriations beyond the start of the fiscal year. This situation will surely necessitate continuing resolutions and a lame-duck session after the November elections. With four of the 11 appropriations bills already passed - Agriculture (378-46), Energy-Water (404-20), Interior-Environment (293-128), and Military Quality of Life-VA (395-0) - the House is on schedule to finish its appropriations bills before Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis' (R-CA) self-imposed deadline of July 4. While the initial bills have moved quickly, debate over contentious spending bills will likely slow the process. For example, the Homeland Security appropriations bill has been reported out of committee and is awaiting a floor vote, but there will no doubt be lengthy debates over amendments and spending levels for each program. Indeed, a bevy of amendments have already been either rejected (such as increased funding for department management and equipment, and training for first responders) or approved (firefighter grant programs and increased funding for the Transportation Security Administration) by the House. The much-maligned FEMA received $2.6 billion less than had been requested by the president. If the current congressional schedule holds, the House will bring the Foreign Operations appropriations bill to the floor on June 8 after completing the Homeland Security appropriations bill. The $21 billion Foreign Operations appropriations bill is 10 percent lower than the president's proposal, but fully funds a few of his requests, including $3.4 billion for AIDS relief and $2.5 billion for aid to Israel. It withholds $150 million in economic aid to the Palestinian Authority, but includes $80 million in humanitarian aid. Because the House and Senate have yet to agree on a budget resolution, GOP leaders are looking at alternative ways of capping discretionary spending. One approach they are considering is a "deeming" resolution that would be attached to the hotly-debated emergency supplemental currently making its way through conference - only one of multiple additions to the bill complicating its passage. The lower deemed cap of $873 billion for spending for Fiscal year 2007 is the same figure called for by the House's budget resolution but is $16 billion less than the Senate's budget resolution. This controversial spending level will complicate and further slow the congressional appropriations process markedly this year, particularly for the large bills such as the one covering the Departments of Health and Human Services, Education, and Labor.