Congress Ready to Push Forward with Omnibus

Congress is moving forward on a large omnibus spending bill that will include funding for fiscal year 2008 (FY08) for every government agency except for the Department of Defense, whose appropriations bill was signed into law last month. The omnibus will contain more than $520 billion in discretionary spending, bringing the total spending for FY08 to about $944billion, just $11 billion over the President’s request. This constitutes an $11 billion cut from the Democrats preferred spending levels, a sign that Democrats are much more willing to compromise now that time is short for completing appropriations work. Despite these concessions, the White House shows no sign of backing down from its threat to veto any spending bill that is above the president’s request.

The decision to move forward on an omnibus bill is somewhat risky. Although Congress has only two weeks before the targeted adjournment date, the President has said that he will not sign any omnibus bill. Instead, with the support of some Republicans in Congress, the President continues to advocate for passing each individual spending bill. However, since FY08 officially began over two months ago, Democratic leaders are more concerned with getting the bills passed, and are less concerned with the methods they use to pass them. However, appropriators are working to sweeten the deal, both for the President and Republicans in Congress.

Attempting to meet the President and his supports halfway, Democrats are now proposing total spending for FY08 at just $11 billion over the President’s request. Through the joint budget resolution, Congress had originally decided on levels that came in $22 billion above the President. The omnibus bill, which will make its way through the House by next week if Democrats have their way, also contains about $30 billion for war funding, and up to $7 billion in emergency funding for programs favorable to Republicans. Appropriators are hoping this will keep the President from vetoing the omnibus bill, which would leave the government without any funding authority, causing a government shutdown. The House Appropriations Committee is currently working on their proposal, scheduled for release next week.

Appropriators are using a somewhat interesting tactic for proposing the bill. Rather than proposing it as a standalone bill, they plan to attach the omnibus to H.R. 2764, the State-Foreign Operations bill, which has already passed both the House and the Senate. Now, the House can vote on the Senate-passed bill, and attach the omnibus as an amendment. From there, the Senate can debate and amend the bill. Normally, there are no amendments to conference reports, but this tactic allows for a quicker process. Once the Senate amends the bill, the House can vote solely on the amendments from the Senate. This allows Congress to bypass the normal process where each House passes the bill, goes to conference with each other and then passes it again through each house.

The government is currently operating under a continuing resolution (CR) that runs through next week. The CR is funding government agencies at the fiscal year 2007 (FY07) levels. A CR usually provide short term funding, to prevent a government shut down despite Congress’ failure to pass the fiscal year’s appropriations bills on time. Last year, Congress passed a long-term CR to run for the duration of FY07. Democrats, blaming the decision on the former Republican majority’s inability to finish their own work, promised during the 2006 midterm elections that such drastic measures would not be necessary if they were in the majority. As such, leaders are hesitant to pass another CR, even if it is intended to run only through January. However, both Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) have conceded that another CR may be required if the President vetoes an omnibus bill with enough Republican support to sustain it.

Throughout the entire appropriations process, the White House has maintained that the President will veto any spending bill that is too far above his budget request. Democrats promised fiscal responsibility in the last elections, and the President seems intent on enforcing that promise. This year, he vetoed both the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) bill, as well as the FY08 Labor-HHS-Education bill because of excessive spending. In both cases, Congress was unable to override the veto because at least 145 Republicans in the House voted with the President. Those same Republicans will decide the outcome of this standoff.
Politically, President Bush has no reason to compromise with Democrats since he does not have to worry about another election. Therefore, the Democrats’ only leverage lies with Republicans in the House who do have an election to get past next year. That is not to say that the President does not have a stake in the deal, but Democrats are not likely to withhold war funding over the standoff. No one wants to be accused of withholding money from troops because of political reasons. Therefore, Democratic leaders are working hard to win over their Republican colleagues, in hopes that passing an omnibus by a veto-proof majority will prevent the President from following through on his threats. If not, Democrats will still have additional time to get the votes they need to override a veto.
Resources:\
David Clarke and Liriel Higa, “Democrats Come Up With a Procedural Gambit to Complete Fiscal 2008 Spending,” CQ Today, December 6, 2007.
Ashley Roque, “Democratic Leaders Raise Prospect of Another CR as Spending Stalemate Continues,” Congress Now, December 5, 2007.
Author: SAS