Senate panel finishes final four spending measures

The Senate Appropriations Committee Thursday passed its final four fiscal 2003 appropriations bills, pushing the Senate closer to its goal of finishing all 13 spending measures before the August recess.

The panel completed the VA-HUD, Transportation, Agriculture and District of Columbia spending bills.

Appropriators signed off on a $91 billion VA-HUD bill for veterans, housing, environment and science that adds $680 million to the Bush administration's request for the Environmental Protection, and $1.1 billion for veterans medical care.

EPA's total of $8.3 billion increases funding for water infrastructure, Superfund, and environmental "cops" who enforce environmental laws.

But the bill overall is $2.07 billion below President Bush's request and $1 billion below current funding levels, prompting VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., to say that the legislation was crafted "in an atmosphere of stringency and austerity."

In an appropriations season during which subcommittees have appeared acutely conscious of trying to stay within their spending allocations, the full committee added $9.2 billion to the Bush administration's Transportation spending request, approving a $64.6 billion appropriations bill.

The majority of the funding addition went to restore $8.6 billion worth of administration cuts to highway spending, and to bail out Amtrak to the tune of $1.2 billion-almost $700 million over the administration request.

The highway money was cut by the Bush administration according to a formula that calculates spending based on the amount of gas tax revenues that are fed into the trust fund for highways. Because those gas tax revenues fell, the administration reduced spending on highways according to the formula.

In addition to the funding for highways and Amtrak, the bill adds $150 million to the Bush request for the Transportation Security Administration for explosives detection equipment, and modifications to airports to accommodate that equipment.

The committee also funded the Coast Guard at $6.07 billion, contributing to a 16 percent increase in Coast Guard funding to bolster its homeland defense missions in addition to its traditional maritime responsibilities.

The Federal Aviation Administration received $13.586 billion, $370 million above the current funding level.

The Appropriations panel also approved Thursday a $74 billion Agriculture spending bill and a $517 million District of Columbia spending measure. The two spending bills were $150 million and $138 million, respectively, over the president's request.

The Agriculture bill faces controversial amendments when it reaches the floor. Senate Finance ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, plans to offer a provision capping farm subsidy payments, although aides said details of the amendment are still being worked out.

Grassley also plans to offer an amendment to increase competition in the livestock market by requiring 25 percent of a packer's daily kill to come from the spot market. Also possible are amendments related to pesticide imports from Canada, as well as trade with Cuba.

In approving the bill, the Appropriations Committee noted that it rejected a number of administration proposals that would have constrained the committee's flexibility to set spending priorities.