Appropriation Deadlines Fall Back

Last Thursday, the House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) postponed the full committee markup of the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has repeatedly stated his intention to have all 12 spending bills for fiscal year 2008 (FY08) finished before the July 4th recess, but the standoff between Democrats and Republicans over earmarks may undermine this ambition. As of Friday, the committee has scheduled the markup for next month, which may push the entire appropriations cycle back into late fall.

Last Thursday, the House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (D-WI) postponed the full committee markup of the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has repeatedly stated his intention to have all 12 spending bills for fiscal year 2008 (FY08) finished before the July 4th recess, but the standoff between Democrats and Republicans over earmarks may undermine this ambition. As of Friday, the committee has scheduled the markup for next month, which may push the entire appropriations cycle back into late fall.
This week, the House brought the Homeland Security appropriations bill to the floor for passage. Chairman Obey planned to enter earmarks, along with their sponsor’s names, into the conference report after the floor debate. This caused uproar among the Republicans, who claimed that this process defied the promise of greater transparency that Democrats made during the 2006 midterm elections. Chairman Obey responded that the House only opted for this option because Republican leaders complained that they lacked sufficient time and instruction regarding the earmark deadlines for the various bills. The Chairman, then, changed the procedure and delayed the full committee markup for the Labor-HHS-Education bill in order to give appropriators more time to insert their earmarks into the bill before it comes to the House floor for final passage.
Solving the earmark problem causes the Democrats greater scheduling problems. During the 2006 elections, Democrats pointed to the Republican’s inability to pass all 12 appropriations bills on time as an example of poor leadership. If they controlled Congress, claimed the Democrats, their leadership would pass and enact all FY08 spending bills before the October 1st deadline. This earmark delay now jeopardizes that promise.
But timing is not the Chairman’s only problem. The Bush Administration has been very vocal about their intention to veto any appropriation legislation that is over the President’s initial request. Recent White House statements signal that Bush is willing to sign Defense and Homeland Security bills that exceed his requests, but that means that he will be less likely to sign a domestic bills that further exceeds his FY08 request. House Republicans recently released a letter showing they have 147 Congressmen signed on to sustain any Presidential veto (only 145 votes are required).
As such, the Democrats have three options. The first option is to cut spending in the various spending bills. Since the Labor-HHS-Education bill is the single largest domestic spending bill, it is a likely target for cuts. The second option is to spend energy converting some of the Republicans who signed onto the veto letter. If the Democratic leadership can secure 290 votes, they can override the veto and that show of force could persuade the President to change his strategy. The third, and most likely option, is to combine spending bills into omnibus packages. If the Labor-HHS-Education bill is, for example, attached to defense funding, then the President is less likely to veto it. Now that Democratic leaders have postponed the markup, appropriators will have more time to figure out the most effective path to take.
Author: SAS/DAD