Negotiations over FY2011 spending between Senate Democrats and House Republicans remain at an impasse this afternoon. A government shutdown looms if an agreement is not reached by midnight tonight. Please check out InterAction’s extended coverage of the FY 2011 appropriations process in the Washington Update section below. Also check out InterAction’s press statement regarding FY2012 foreign aid funding and Ken Forsberg’s Aid Buzz blog post on the House Republicans’ FY2012 budget resolution and its vision for the international affairs budget for the next fiscal year and beyond.

In other news, this week U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee to discuss the role of the U.S. in reforming the international body. The Senate Foreign Relations Committee held a confirmation hearing for J. Scott Gration, former Sudan Special Envoy, to be U.S. Ambassador to Kenya. (The Obama administration last week tapped Princeton Lyman as Gration’s successor in the Sudan post.)

Please find summaries of these hearings and others, a list of upcoming hearings and articles of interest in the Update below.