Update on Consolidated Appropriations

Before adjourning for the year, the House passed the Consolidated Appropriations Act for FY 04 on December 8. The Senate adjourned without considering the legislation and will not consider before it reconvenes on January 20. There is a rising tide of opposition to the bill for the following:

• The sheer size—the bill includes almost $400 billion in spending, 11 cabinet departments and is over 1000 pages long;
• The number of unprecedented number of earmarks-- 10,000 by some counts – which may be a function, at least in part, of the number agencies in the bill;
• The decision of the republican conferees to strip out, at the insistence of the White House a number of legislative riders including provisions approved by both Houses on overtime pay, FCC media ownership rules and outsourcing; and, finally,
• For Democrats, their exclusion from most of the deliberations and negotiations on the legislation.

The debate will come on the motion to proceed to the conference report. At this time, it there is a strong possibility of a filibuster to that motion in the Senate, led by Democrats and some Republicans – such as Mc Cain. For this reason, it may be necessary to get 60 votes for the legislation; enough to break a filibuster. For this bill that may be a tall order.

At this time, it is unclear that there are 60 votes, at least initially, to break the filibuster. One count has there only being 56 votes for the bill. That’s enough to pass but not enough to get consent to consider the bill.

There are rumors that Senator Specter (R-PA) is continuing to negotiate with the White House on overtime rules. One thought is that the first motion to proceed will be defeated, the White House will come forward with a delay in overtime rules through the end of the fiscal year, or some other sweetener, and that will be enough to get the bill through. We’ll see.

If there is not agreement, Congress will pass a continuing resolution that funds all programs at the FY 03 rate. All the projects will be lost and that may enough to pull the bill through, but it will take a while.

Click Here for a table on various federal housing and community development appropriations for Fiscal Year 2004, as passed by the House