Tag: Federal Update

Federal Update: Appropriations

APPROPRIATIONS

The Senate is on the verge of a deal on a $35 billion budget savings package after months of negotiations, but the House’s pursuit of a bigger package of spending cuts will likely complicate Republican leaders’ ability to reach a bicameral agreement. House GOP leaders are struggling to find the votes for further budget cuts proposed by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-IL, as authorizing committees continue to produce their recommendations for achieving the savings. The Senate Budget Committee is assembling the savings proposals into a single bill. Under rules of the budget reconciliation process, the panel cannot make substantive changes to the proposals of the authorizing committees. The package will then go to the floor for 20 hours of debate and there will likely be attempts to amend it, particularly by Democrats aiming to get GOP lawmakers on the record as voting to slice popular programs. However, if the package complies with the reconciliation instructions outlined in the budget resolution (H Con Res 95) adopted in April, Democrats will not be able to filibuster the budget bill. The budget resolution also outlined a $70 billion tax cut reconciliation bill. Since no Democrats are expected to support the budget-cutting bill, success in the Senate will hinge on GOP moderates. During the Senate vote on the budget resolution in April, three Republicans defected; Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Ohioans Mike DeWine and George V. Voinovich. Chafee said he would oppose both the tax cut and the spending cut bills. “It’s bad timing to be doing tax cuts and then put pressure on social programs,” he said. Voinovich, who has questioned the need for more tax cuts, said he was inclined to vote for the savings bill. “I’m a fiscal hawk, so my tendency is to vote for it,” he said. Seven Republicans also have voted to oppose drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR), and are under pressure from environmental groups to vote against a package that includes drilling. Senate leaders can lose up to five GOP votes on the final tally, with Vice President Dick Cheney breaking a tie vote.

October Federal Update: Appropriations

Congress has passed a stopgap spending measure intended to keep the government operating past the end of FY 2005, and Bush signed it in the waning hours of FY 2005, which ended at midnight, September 30. The resolution (HJR 68) will keep the government running through Nov. 18. Although most House Democrats backed the stopgap spending plan, they took the opportunity to highlight growth in the federal budget deficit. Minority Whip Steny H. Hoyer, D-MD, said he was voting for the measure because a government shutdown was unacceptable. “However, our enactment of this legislation must not be construed as an exoneration of the sheer fiscal mismanagement of this Republican Congress,” he said, noting that the GOP “obsession with tax cuts at a time of war and its unwillingness to make hard choices” has led to huge budget deficits. The stopgap measure prohibits agencies from initiating or resuming programs not funded in FY 2005 and from awarding new grants, (though there is an exception for activities in Iraq). The stopgap measure sets spending for other programs at the FY 2005 rate, the House-passed level for FY 2006 or the Senate-passed level, whichever is lowest. Sen. Robert Byrd, D-WV, said, “Here we go again, yes, here we go again. This is deja vu all over again. Is this the way to run a government? It is unfortunate that most of the regular programs of the departments and agencies of government will limp into the new fiscal year, under the terms of a very restrictive continuing resolution.”