OMB chief again demands Congress act on supplemental bill

Office of Management and Budget Director Mitch Daniels insisted Monday that Congress approve the fiscal 2002 supplemental spending bill, despite suggestions in some quarters that the supplemental bill's moment might have passed.

The legislation is currently mired in a difficult conference, which developed into a fit of name-calling and accusations on the Senate floor late last week.

Daniels, who spoke to reporters Monday on the release of the administration's midsession review of the budget, nevertheless said that because of the delay in passing the legislation, Congress could now "easily" shave "a couple of billion" off even the lower, House-passed level of $28.8 billion.

"Much of it cannot possibly be spent this fiscal year now, so a lot of it could be taken up in" 2003 appropriations bills, Daniels said.

Savings could now be found in a number of salary and expense accounts, Daniels said.

But he indicated that much of the defense request for about $14 billion and an added $4.4 billion for the Transportation Security Administration, as well as several other items he did not name, remains essential.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., lambasted Daniels in another speech on the Senate floor Thursday but also took aim at Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and others who are suggesting the supplemental be abandoned and the money be included instead in 2003 bills.

"There are some in Congress who suggest that we should throw our hands up on this bill and wait until the next fiscal year to address these priorities," Byrd said. "Such statements ignore the critical needs facing the nation for defense and homeland security."

Meanwhile, exiting a meeting with House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla., Senate Appropriations ranking member Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, said he was "on a mission to try to get a bill."

While Stevens would not provide give specific details about how he plans to bridge the gap between Congress and the White House over the stalled supplemental, he did note that lawmakers might have to "bleed a little" to get a deal.

Meanwhile, the fate of the 2003 Interior and Treasury-Postal bills, scheduled for floor action this week in the House, was unclear.

Lawmakers were looking to take both bills to the Rules Committee, but a disagreement among appropriators, conservatives and the GOP leadership over the addition of $700 million in 2002 money to the Interior bill, to deal with fires in the West, delayed consideration Monday night.

Conservatives have objected to the money because the White House has yet to make a formal request for it. In fact, the administration also opposes its inclusion on the grounds that Interior has enough borrowing authority to cover the added firefighting needs in the West.

But the fight is a precarious one for some Republicans--given that many GOP lawmakers are from the West and are politically pressed to support the money.

Pending a decision on Interior, the Rules Committee also was expected to consider the Treasury-Postal bill. An open rule for the bill was expected, allowing House members to bring up on the floor politically charged amendments, such as one to lift a ban on travel to Cuba, as well as one striking language that would prohibit Treasury from issuing a rule on letting banks enter the real estate business.

However, the rule was not expected to protect language in the bill, opposed by Government Reform Committee Chairman Dan Burton, R-Ind., and other Republican leaders, to prevent government contracts from being awarded to businesses that incorporate overseas in tax-haven countries, such as in the Caribbean.