Senate Republicans will attempt to change the budget process quickly by trying to pass reforms by resolution and rule changes in January rather than waiting for a lengthy legislative process, according to a key Senate GOP source.
Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., "wants to move quickly," the source said, adding that GOP members will "attempt to see how many we can do by resolution."
The Senate may attempt to redefine the definition of "emergency" in supplemental spending measures to ensure such spending applies only to sudden and unexpected needs. Republicans may attempt to enforce that requirement by allowing a point of order to be raised against any spending that does not apply; that point of order could be waived by 60 votes.
The Senate also may attempt to reinstate a rule that prohibits legislative provisions from being added to appropriations bills. That Senate rule was eliminated several years ago, after Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, succeeded in an attempt to overrule the chair's ruling that a provision she wanted to add to a funding measure was not in order. That, too, might be enforced with a 60-vote waiver requirement, the source said.
The Senate also might try to pass provisions that would allow a budget surplus to be used for tax cuts and a proposal that would establish an automatic continuing resolution if appropriations bills are not passed and signed by the end of the fiscal year. Those two proposals are likely to be difficult to enforce in a resolution passed only by the Senate, the source said, adding they could be changed in legislation.
In addition to Senate rule changes, Senate Budget Committee Chairman Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and other GOP senators still will press for passage of legislation creating a two-year budget and appropriations cycle. "We think there are 60 votes in the Senate," the source said.
However, House Speaker-designate Bob Livingston, R-La., a longtime appropriator, is vehemently opposed to the idea of two-year budgeting, making House passage difficult.
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