Late last night, the House released the more than $600 billion FY09 CR/MiniBus legislation, to fund much of the government through early March. Votes are scheduled for the House floor later today. The 110th Congress has punted its responsibility to the next Congress and Administration. The 1,109 page bill includes just three complete appropriations bills: $487.7 billion for Department of Defense; $40 billion for Homeland Security; and $72.9 billion for the Military Construction-VA bill.  The legislation also includes $23 billion in emergency spending for hurricane and other disaster relief, and $7.5 billion to launch a loan program for the big three auto makers.

This is the first time the Defense spending bill has been publicly available for members of Congress and the public to inspect. But with the bailout plan casting a $700 billion shadow, a little legislative sleight of hand may ease the $600 billion spending package's passage.

Read the full text of the legislation here and the explanatory text here .

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