Labor-HHS-Education Bill Headed to White House

Congress is finally ready to send the Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill to the President. Although appropriators originally opted to send the bill as part of a package with the Veterans Affairs-Military Construction (VA-MilCon) bill, the Senate decided to divide the two packages, and send them as stand alone bills.

Although the President has said he would sign the VA-MilCon bill, he is expected to veto the Labor-HHS-Education spending measure.

In a political move, Democrats attached the two bills together in order to test President Bush’s resolve in opposing the Labor-HHS-Education bill, which exceeded his request for fiscal year 2008 by about $10 billion. The President assured Congressional leaders he will veto any multiple bill package (called a mini-bus) that comes to his desk. As such, a veto of the two-bill package would give Democrats ammunition, claiming that not only did the President veto the largest domestic spending bill in Labor-HHS-Education, but he also vetoed veterans’ benefits in the VA-MilCon bill. The House approved the mini-bus on Tuesday, despite Republican objections. However, the Senate did not follow suit.

On Wednesday, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), brought a point of order against the mini-bus, claiming it violated Rule 28 of the Senate Rules. The updated Senate rule prohibits Senators from “air dropping” spending provisions into conference reports. Since the conferees that met last week were chosen only for the Labor-HHS-Education bill, the addition of the VA-MilCon bill could be considered a large, air-dropped earmark. Democrats were unable to get the 60 votes necessary to waive her point of order, and the two bills were separated. The Senate passed an amended Labor-HHS-Education bill by a vote of 56-37, well short of a veto-proof majority. The House voted in favor of the amended bill by vote of 274-141, also short of a veto-proof majority.

The President is expected to veto the bill next week, sending it back to Congress. Since neither body passed the bill by a veto-proof majority, an override is unlikely, though not out of the question. Although the President has vowed to veto bills that are too far above his budget requests, Democrats are not likely to reduce spending in the bill by any considerable amount. As such, despite some differences, the levels agreed to in this Labor-HHS-Education bill may very well be the final numbers that are signed into law, probably as part of a large omnibus bill at the end of the year. Here are the major program spending levels (in thousands) currently in the conference report approved by both the House and the Senate:

· ESEA Title I Grants to LEAs $14,311,362

· School Improvement Grants $500,000

· Reading First State Grants $400,000

· Even Start $62,636

· State Agency Program—Migrant $390,212

· Charter School Grants $214,783

· CTE State Grants $1,206,111

· Adult Education $576,525

· NCLB Total $25,267,312

· IDEA Part B State Grants $11,292,425

· Dept of Education Total $60,702,573

Congress is working on giving itself another month to work on final appropriations bills as the House passed another continuing resolution (CR), to keep the government funded through December 14. The CR was attached to the conference report for the Defense appropriations bill, passed by a vote of 400-15. The Senate followed suit last night, clearing the bill for the President by a voice vote. The President has already stated his intention to sign the Defense bill, there by approving the CR. During that additional 30 days, Congress will have to either come up with lower funding levels acceptable to the President, or combine the remaining spending bills into one large omnibus package, framing it as a last resort to force the President sign the congressionally approved funding levels.

Resources:
Jennifer Bendery, “House Approves Stand-Alone Labor-HHS Bill but Fails to Secure Veto-Proof Majority,” Congress Now, November 8, 2007.
Ashley Roque, “House Easily Approves Defense Appropriations Measure With CR but No War Spending,” Congress Now, November 8, 2007.
Author: SAS