The Senate voted today to smack down an attempt to cut spending from the 2006 emergency spending bill current under debate. An amendment offered by Sen. Craig Thomas (R-WY) that would have replaced the entire text of the $106.5 billion bill with President Bush's original $92.2 request was easily defeated 72 - 26.

The veto-proof result of this vote comes on the heels of repeated requests by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and other conservatives in the Senate for the President to use his influence to reduce the size of the emergency spending bill. The president's veto threat issued yesterday seems to have had little impact on Senators however, many of whom may consider the president to be the boy who cried wolf on fiscal issues.

Until the president actually vetoes a spending bill or demostrates any interest in fiscal responsibilty, why should anyone in Congress, or the rest of the country, believe the president?

The New York Times has a great article today highlighting some of the criticisms of supplemental spending, which has "ballooned over the last five years, driven first by the Sept. 11 attacks, followed by the war in Iraq and then by natural disasters including the tsunami in Asia and Hurricane Katrina."

Excessive supplemental spending allows lawmakers to push through projects without going through the budget process, and allows them to evade voted-on, set spending limits. And while supplemental emergency spending is often used to fund war activities, many believe that at this point the spending should no longer be categorized as "emergency." The article quote AEI research fellow Veronique de Rugy as saying:

We have been using supplementals to finance the war, and it might actually make sense the first year. But three or four years into the war, no war spending should be going through supplementals. It's not as if it's sudden, urgent and unforeseen, or temporary.

This issue is currently relative as the Senate plans to take up a $106 billion emergency spending bill this week, which is $14 billion higher than the one requested by the White House. As the NY Times points out, the bill includes such non-emergecny spending as "farm-program provisions totaling $4 billion," "$700 million to relocate a rail line in Mississippi," and "$1.1 billion for fishery projects, including a $15 million 'seafood promotion strategy.'"

Majority Leader Bill Frist and a number of other lawmakers are in agreement that the emergency spending process is being abused, and has been for years. In an April 21 letter to his Republican colleagues, Frist said "the supplemental should not be bogged down with extraneous amendments and unrelated provisions. In the face of continued deficits, we must be careful to not blow the bank on the back of the war."

New York Times: New Criticism Falls on 'Supplemental' Bills

It was announced today that U.S. Trade Representative and former Congressman Rob Portman will most likely be the one to replace Josh Bolten as director of the Office of Management and Budget. Portman -- a long time friend of the President's who has claimed to "owe his career" to the Bush family -- shares the President's views on taxation, claiming today in the Rose Garden: "Now is not the time to risk losing ground by raising taxes," and stating his support of the administration’s agenda of extending tax cuts.

The DNC has put together a biography on Portman. The bio cites a February 2003 New York Times article which says, "A friend of Mr. Bush for 17 years, Mr. Portman is credited with helping the president win Ohio's 20 electoral votes in a close contest in November. He is on a first-name basis with Karl Rove, now deputy chief of staff for policy at the White House, and Joshua B. Bolten, director of the Office of Management and Budget, who regularly consult him on domestic issues." The Times called Portman, who was a 2004 Pioneer, "one of [Bush’s] closest friends in Congress," and "President Bush’s man in the House." An October 2005 article from The Hill stated that Portman "and Bush met at the 1988 Republican convention in New Orleans, where Portman was a young delegate. He remembers Bush, who is fond of nicknames and now calls him 'Robby Bobby,' as relaxed and friendly, wearing cowboy boots and holding a cigar."

Portman's nomination is subject to Senate approval; the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee and the Budget committee have jurisdiction over OMB nominations. Apparently this nomination receieved a positive reaction on capitol hill. Portman is perceived to have a strong background in budget policy and economic matters, but will likely not do much to alter the major parts of Bush's fiscal policy. Rep. John Spratt (D-SC) of the House Budget committee was quoted as saying, "They could not have chosen better than Rob Portman. He's a first-class individual." Spratt also said that if confirmed quickly, Portman's first responsibility may be to help the House pass a budget for FY 2007.

The OMB issued some amendments to the President's budget on April 6. The State Department, Department of Agriculture, FCC, and Smithsonian are affected by the amendments. Proprosed discretionary totals would not be affected by these amendments. Most of these amendments address salaries and expenses, or errors made in the original request.

Last week the National Priorities Project released their annual publication Where Do Your Tax Dollars Go? The publication shows how the median income family's income tax dollars are spent for every state and 200 cities, towns and counties. It also looks at the shift in how tax dollars were spent in 2005 compared with 2000. For example, NPP has found that the military's share of the income tax dollar has risen by 20 percent since 2000, while the share of spending has dropped for job training (-21 percent), environment (-19 percent), housing (-7 percent) and veteran's benefits (-2 percent).

In a surprising collapse late yesterday afternoon, the House GOP leadership pulled the 2007 budget resolution from floor consideration and gave up any efforts to pass the bill before the two-week April recess. Lacking the votes to pass the resolution, new GOP Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) failed in his first major test as head of the new leadership team in the House.

Boehner had made statements earlier this week vowing to pass a budget before the recess or abandon efforts to pass one at all. On April 4, he asked rhetorically, "If we don't do it this week, why do it at all?"

The straw that broke the camels back was a provision to require authorization from the Budget Committee for any emergency disaster relief appropriations in excess of $4.3 billion. This budget cap was heavily pushed by conservatives over the past few weeks (along with other harsh budget process changes) in exchange for their support on the budget resolution. But inclusion of this cap forced Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) to withdraw his suppport and lobby the other 35 members of his commmittee to do the same.

While it is unclear if the House Majority Leader will hold to his earlier comments about abandoning efforts to pass a budget resolution, it may make little difference at this point. With the House GOP caucus now split into multiple factions and with united Democratic opposition, it seems more unlikely Congress will pass a budget now than perhaps at any other time this year.

And without the ability to pass a budget, the Republican Party continues to pull apart at the seams and has become a majority party withouth the ability to govern. While before they could muster the support to pass an irresponsible and reckless budget, this year, they may not be able to pass any budget at all.

Here's hoping they don't...

Washington Post: GOP Budget Talks Collaspe In House
NY Times: House Republicans Abandon Budget Effort

Posted by Adam Hughes, 10:19:54 AM

Thursday, April 06, 2006

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Tuesday, April 04, 2006