Congress Ready to Send “Mini-Bus” Appropriations to President

Thursday, November 1, Congressional conferees voted to send the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill for fiscal year 2008 (FY08) to the President as part of a “mini-bus” package that includes the Veterans Affairs and Military (VA-Mil) construction bill. The package originally included the Department of Defense appropriations as well, but was dropped due to controversial Iraq provisions. The conference report is ready for floor consideration, though it is unclear if the proposal will make through the Senate.

The conference report includes $150.7 billion in discretionary spending for the three departments (Labor-HHS-Education) and several independent agencies, notably the Social Security Administration. A number of discretionary programs received increases this year in both bills, including Title I, special education, and Pell grants. The final conference report also includes a $25 million increase for career and technical education. Total spending in the Labor-HHS-Education portion of the bill is $608.3 billion, including entitlements such as Medicare and Medicaid. The conference report’s discretionary total for Labor-HHS-Education is $1 billion less than in the House-passed bill and $841 million more than in the Senate version. It is $9.8 billion more than Bush requested.

The VA-Mil and the Labor-HHS-Education bills were combined as way of further politicizing the appropriations fight between Congressional Democrats and the White House. Republicans in Congress are criticizing the majority for attempting to use veterans funding as a political tool against the President. Forty-four Senate Republicans sent a joint letter to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) condemning the decision to package the two bills together. Some Senators are already planning to take further action against the mini-bus package.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) stated her intention to bring a point of order against the conference report, which she claims violates Senate Rule XXVIII. The new Senate rule is intended to prevent “airdropping” earmarks into conference reports. Sen. Hutchison claims that since conferees were only appointed to work on the Labor-HHS-Education bill, adding the VA-Mil bill constitutes an earmark, since it authorizes funding for projects not originally in either version of the Labor-HHS-Education legislation. Under Senate rules, the Chair must decide to accept the point of order to preclude further action on the bill in violation of Senate rules, which is unlikely.

President Bush is already threatening to veto the mini-bus, which may be exactly what Democrats are hoping for. By vetoing the total legislative package, Democrats can not only accuse the President of vetoing the largest domestic spending bill (Labor-HHS-Education), but also for vetoing funding for veterans programs, statistically a large Republican base. Although the President is issuing threats, the final votes in the House and Senate will be the deciding factor. If Congress is able to pass the conference report by veto-proof majorities, however unlikely that might be, the President just may refrain from vetoing the bill.

Resources:
Scott Cox, “Hutchison Targets Labor-HHS and MilCon Bill With Point of Order,” Congress Now, November 1, 2007.
Alex Wayne, “Measure Boosts Spending for Domestic Priorities, but Veto Threat Looms,” CQ Today, November 1, 2007.
Frank Wolfe, “Conferees Approve$60.7 Billion for Education,” Education Daily, November 2, 2007.
Author: SAS