Several legislative branch agencies will take a budget cut in fiscal 2012. The Government Accountability Office, Congressional Research Service and the Congressional Budget Office will see a decrease in appropriated dollars this fiscal year under a bill approved by the House and the Senate.

The bill, known as an omnibus because it consolidates a majority of individual spending bills, secured Senate passage Dec. 17 in a 67-32 vote a day after the House approved it 296-121. President Obama is expected to sign the bill into law.

Under the omnibus, the GAO will be funded $511.3 million this year, an amount less than the $556.8 million requested by the president and the $546.3 million enacted in fiscal 2011.

In a report (.pdf) accompanying the omnibus, conferees said determining funding levels for GAO is difficult because Congress does not have a complete understanding of the costs associate with conducting audits. According to conferees, this problem was recently identified by GAO's inspector general as well. As such, the omnibus directs GAO to report to the Senate and House appropriations committees semi-annually "with a cost analysis by function of its work products, a total funding level for any completed report during the fiscal year, and the number of reports previously conducted on the particular issues for which reports are being conducted," says the report.

CRS is slated to receive $106.8 million this year, an amount less than the $117.1 requested by the president and the $111 million enacted in fiscal 2011. The report says CRS has an additional $1 million in funds available to it for conducting a review of the Government Printing Office.

Conferees rejected a proposal from the House version of Legislative branch appropriations that suggested GAO conduct a study on the feasibility of having the General Services Administration take over GPO's printing duties. Instead the omnibus directs CRS to contract out or issue a grant to the National Academy of Public Administration to "conduct a study on updating a review of GPO operations."

The CBO will get $43.1 million under the omnibus, an amount less than the $46.9 million requested by the president and the $46.8 million enacted in fiscal 2011.

For more:
- download the Legislative Branch appropriations bill (.pdf)
- download the report accompanying the Legislative Branch appropriations bill (.pdf)

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