Spending, homeland, Iraq debates continue to rage on Hill

This was supposed to be the big exit week for Congress, but problems with the Iraq military force resolution, the Homeland Security Department debate and the parameters for a new continuing resolution to provide temporary funding for agencies appeared to signal that Congress would remain in session for perhaps another week as well.

The week opens without a clear exit strategy, and leaders in both chambers are considered unlikely to make firm decisions one way or the other until the middle of this week.

On the appropriations front, the big question is not which bills can be completed, but how long a continuing resolution will be.

It seemed unlikely and politically improbable for Congress to adopt a long-term CR lasting into 2003 before leaving town for the election. A more likely scenario as seen by Capitol Hill observers is that Congress would write a CR to get past the election, then return in late November and December to work either on appropriations bills or write another CR that would last into 2003.

Appropriators, for their part, are amenable to writing a CR until November, but most would oppose putting off decisions for much longer. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla., as part of his push to keep lawmakers in Washington in December to work on appropriations bills, said late last week that a long-term CR would have "disastrous" impacts on various government programs, including homeland security.

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., also has indicated his opposition to such a move, saying last week that Congress cannot continue to run the government on "autopilot."

But even writing a CR simply to get through the election could prove difficult. Some lawmakers want to attach drought aid, Medicare givebacks or other items to what is seen as the last train leaving town.

If approved, such amendments could be poison pills, given that the White House has signaled it wants only "clean" CRs-no new funding over and above what was approved last year.

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., last week signaled that he might be willing to keep the House in session for one day each week in October to pass week-long CRs as part of a House GOP effort to force the Senate to adopt a Homeland Security Department bill-or embarrass the Senate for failing to do so.

Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., responded by saying he might keep the Senate in session up until the election, a move that also would keep House lawmakers around in some capacity for the next several weeks.

The exchange was dismissed as political bravado by some, but also was seen as indicative of the trouble lawmakers face in developing a cohesive exit strategy, making it appear more likely that Congress will be in session through next Friday, Oct. 18, at least.

Meanwhile, after a nearly two-month drought, both houses actually may pass a fiscal 2003 appropriations bill this week. Both the Defense and Military Construction spending bills are likely to be completed, with conference reports probable in both the House and Senate by week's end.

With the new fiscal year now nearly a week old, those two measures would represent the first of the 13 2003 annual appropriations measure to clear Congress.

Republicans and Democrats in the Senate plan to continue negotiations on homeland security legislation this week, although both sides acknowledged that their attention will be diverted by debate on a resolution authorizing the administration to use military force in Iraq.

Senate leaders pulled the homeland bill from the Senate floor last week after Republicans defeated the fifth consecutive cloture motion on the legislation.

After pulling the bill, talks on the homeland bill moved behind the scenes as senators focused on the Iraq resolution, the subject of a nationwide address Monday night by President Bush.

The House and Senate hope to wrap up work on the Iraq resolution by week's end. House members are expected to give overwhelming approval of Bush's proposed resolution.

Things could be more complicated in the Senate, however. Democrats plan to bring up two major changes to the resolution, which will require the Senate to defeat them outright in order to approve an identical resolution to the House.

Otherwise, members of Congress from both chambers will have to meet in a conference committee in order to merge the resolutions.