Lack of funding could stall spending bills

With the August recess fast approaching and seven fiscal 2001 spending bills yet to clear the Senate, Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, began sounding the alarm Tuesday that he may not have the money to move his remaining bills.

The problem will be made worse if senators vote to strip out $6 billion in fiscal 2001 budget savings that Stevens put in the Military Construction/supplemental conference report.

Speaking to reporters, Stevens said, "We really don't have enough money to get those bills out of committee," referring to the fiscal 2001 VA-HUD, Commerce-Justice-State and Treasury-Postal spending bills. Also awaiting markup are the Energy and Water and District of Columbia bills, while the Interior bill is pending before the Senate and the Agriculture bill is ready for the floor.

Stevens also said he plans to offer an amendment to the fiscal 2001 Interior bill to remove $6 billion in payment shifts included in the conference report that so angered Senate Banking Committee Chairman Phil Gramm, R-Texas. But if the amendment passes, Stevens said, "I really don't think [those bills] could move out of committee." Should the amendment fail, Stevens said he could get the VA-HUD, Commerce-Justice-State and Treasury-Postal bills to the floor, although "there may not be enough to get them signed."

Budget Committee Chairman Domenici said Tuesday "I think it's clear" the 13 appropriations bills could not be passed within the budget resolution, which limits total discretionary spending to $600.3 billion in budget authority for fiscal 2001.

To free $6 billion in fiscak 2001 money to be spent on other priorities, the Military Construction/supplemental conference report included language to shift the payment of $2.4 billion in Supplemental Security Income benefits and $1.9 billion in veterans compensation benefits from fiscal 2001 back into fiscal 2000.

And the conference report would move $2 billion in fiscal 2001 outlays from defense to non-defense discretionary appropriations accounts.

Gramm, a senior member of the Budget Committee, objected to these budgetary maneuvers when the conference report came before the Senate June 30, saying they make "a mockery out of the budget."

To satisfy Gramm, Stevens promised to "rescind the action that is in this bill adjusting those pay shifts and taking them into account for future use. [T]hese shifts have been objected to, and they will not be used this year. I can't say they won't be available in another year. They will not be used in connection with fiscal year 2001."

A spokesman for Gramm said Stevens' plan to rescind those provisions with an amendment to the Interior bill-which Stevens appears to oppose-would not fulfill his commitment to Gramm.

"Sen. Stevens was unequivocal in describing his agreement" on the floor, the spokesman said.

The spokesman added: "We believe he is a man of his word, that he doesn't parse statements and that he intends to do what he said he would do. He agreed very specifically and without equivocation to get the job done, [and] we leave it to him to figure out how best to accomplish it."