Before adjourning for its week-long Memorial Day recess, the House passed the President's emergency supplemental appropriations bill on May 24, in a 280-138 vote. Supplemental appropriations bills, such as this one, are common tools to bridge the gap between one fiscal year's appropriations and the next. This $29.6 billion supplemental, $2 billion more than the President's initial $27.1 billion request, will provide added funding for this fiscal year, which ends September 30.

According to the House Committee on Appropriations summary of the bill, the bill provides $15.8 billion for the Defense Department - which is $1.8 billion more than the President had requested. In addition, it provides $5.8 billion for "Homeland Security," including approximately $3.9 billion for the newly-created Transportation Security Administration, $380 million for the Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of Energy for "additional security requirements at the Nation's nuclear facilities and security improvements for Army Corps of Engineers facilities," and $112 million for the FBI's investigative work. Another $5.5 billion comes in the form of assistance for New York's recovery efforts. The full text of the supplemental is available online.

The Senate will not begin to consider the supplemental until it returns from the Memorial Day recess on June 4. The Senate Appropriations Committee has passed its own supplemental, S. 2551, which totals $32 billion.