On Wednesday, the House is likely to finish appropriations for the fiscal year with a vote on the last spending measure, Defense. The lower chamber will also vote to extend the debt limit temporarily, a move that will put the thorny political issue off until 2010.

The FY 2010 Defense appropriations measure will likely become another mini-omnibus for Congress, as some on Capitol Hill expect the bill to include provisions extending unemployment benefits, subsidized COBRA health insurance and a short-term, continuing resolution (CR) that would continue to fund the Pentagon through Dec. 23 or Dec. 24. The current CR expires on Dec. 18, which would not be enough time for the Senate to also debate and pass the last spending bill.

According to a Congressional Quarterly (subscription required) article, the House will also extend the U.S. government's debt ceiling by roughly $200 billion. This would prevent the government from defaulting on its debt for a couple months and provide the Democratic leadership and the White House time to discuss the creation of a debt commission, a demand some dozen conservative Democratic senators are currently making in return for votes to increase the debt ceiling substantially.

Image by Flickr user Kevin Burkett used under a Creative Commons license.