State Department spending reassigned in committee shuffle

The Senate Appropriations Committee is expected to ratify a restructuring plan Wednesday that would eliminate the VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee and move State Department accounts into the Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee -- an unexpected move that would consolidate broad authority to influence foreign policy.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss., is giving up his Homeland Security panel chairmanship, providing Commerce-Justice-State Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., with a soft landing. Gregg called Cochran's move "very accommodating" but added, "I still like C-J-S." Cochran declined to comment on his proposals, preferring to wait for Wednesday's committee meeting.

Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Richard Shelby, R-Ala., who is more senior than Gregg, will take the helm of a new Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations Subcommittee. The panel would gain science agencies, including NASA and the National Science Foundation, from the VA-HUD spending bill.

The move will give Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., jurisdiction over the State Department, a move he has long advocated. House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., chose not to move the State Department into the House Foreign Operations panel, leaving it instead in a new House Science, State, Justice and Commerce Appropriations Subcommittee.

A new Transportation, Treasury and Housing panel will assume responsibility for the judiciary, as well as HUD and related agencies from VA-HUD -- a move that mirrors House action. VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Christopher (Kit) Bond, R-Mo., will be that subcommittee's chairman.

Cochran's move to give up his subcommittee chairmanship gives Military Construction Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, the opportunity to remain at the helm of an expanded Military Construction and Veterans Affairs panel, which absorbs veterans programs from the VA-HUD panel.

Hutchison also got a little help from Veterans Affairs Chairman Craig, who outranks her in Appropriations Committee seniority and could have taken that subcommittee. "I have to say that Thad and Larry Craig were very helpful," she said.

Cochran's plan also allows Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Robert Bennett, R-Utah, to remain in place, while he could offer District of Columbia Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Mike DeWine, R-Ohio, the same opportunity. But the Legislative Branch panel is open. It could fall to either DeWine or Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., who will be a "cardinal" for the first time.

Cochran's 12 panels will match up better with the House's 10 subcommittees in conference, although pockets of difficulty exist, such as the State Department being in two different bills. Also, Cochran has maintained the current jurisdiction of the Defense Appropriations Subcommittee, while Lewis moved some defense accounts into a new Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs panel.