Obama signs $447B omnibus spending bill

"President Barack Obama signed a $447 billion omnibus spending bill into law Wednesday, assuring that federal agencies will be able to operate through the remainder of fiscal 2010," Dow Jones/Wall Street Journal reports. The bill provides appropriations for the State Department and several other agencies (Pulizzi, 12/16). 

According to Roll Call, "White House officials acknowledge that the legislation is not 'perfect,' as it raises spending and continues widespread earmarking, though the number of earmarks is down from last year." They said Obama signed the measure to prevent an interruption of government operations, "and they promise that the president's next budget will make a serious stab at reducing the deficit."

"Many Republicans charge the increases in spending are too large and that Obama needs to veto the legislation to begin acting on his long-standing promise to cut spending growth," the publication writes (Koffler, 12/16).

A breakdown of global health spending in the bill as well as a timeline and further information is available here on Kaiser's U.S. Global Health Policy Tracker.