As
previously reported, under the International Religious Freedom Act, the
U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom would have gone out of business on Sept. 30, 2011. However provisions in two Continuing Resolutions have kept it alive pending enactment of a two-year reauthorization bill that has been passed by the House and is pending in the Senate. The latest of the Continuing Resolutions extended USCIRF's life to this Friday, Nov. 18. Now, however, another temporary reprieve is apparently about to be enacted. As reported in a
memo issued Monday by the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, the final conference report on the Fiscal Year 2012 Agriculture, Commerce/Justice/Science, and Transportation/Housing and Urban Development Appropriations bill – sometimes known as the "
Mini-bus" contains yet another Continuing Resolution continuing other operations of the federal government until Dec. 16. (
House Report 112-284 full text). The convoluted language of this Continuing Resolution has the effect of also extending USCIRF until Dec. 16. The CR provides that:
The Continuing Appropriations Act, 2012 (Public Law 112-36) is amended by striking the date specified in section 106(3) and inserting "December 16, 2011".
Public Law 112-36 in turn extended the life of USCIRF through a provision reading:
Section 209 of the International Religious Freedom Act of 1998 (22 U.S.C. 6436) shall be applied by substituting the date specified in section 106(3) of this Act for "September 30, 2011".
In response to an inquiry, USCIRF Chairman Leonard Leo told Religion Clause blog by e-mail:
There is a provision in the CR to keep USCIRF going if the reauth cannot be achieved by the end of the week. But, we are hoping that the Democrats will move forward and get it done in the next couple of days. It would be shameful if, as other countries around the world create institutions like USCIRF, we shut ours down.
UPDATE: The
White House website reports that the President signed the legislation on Nov. 18.
