House, Senate ponder stagnant appropriations process
The good news for those watching the calendar is that Congress is moving closer to completion of the fiscal 2004 Iraq supplemental by an Oct. 23 deadline.
The bad news: Congressional leaders have not yet figured out how to complete the must-pass regular 2004 appropriations bills.
One reason is that the $87 billion emergency spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan has diverted attention from the four appropriations bills currently in conference-the Interior, Military Construction, Energy and Water and Labor-HHS bills-particularly in the Senate, where debate on any bill can be protracted.
And the Senate has yet to pass six other bills, which are likely to be wrapped into an end-of-session omnibus package, or "minibus."
Congress has already cleared one continuing resolution to fund the government through Oct. 31, and the House could begin action on another CR as early as next week.
The appropriations stalemate has led House GOP leaders and appropriators to consider methods of prodding the Senate to the negotiating table on spending bills, such as passing a CR that would not fund government agencies under the purview of the Interior, Energy and Water and Military Construction bills. The Labor-HHS bill, a massive $470 billion bill, could still be included in the CR, however.
House GOP aides cautioned that a number of options for forcing the Senate's hand were being discussed, with one aide arguing a government shutdown threat is not politically viable.
"There are other ways to put pressure on the Senate," the aide said without elaborating.
But, as another aide noted, "We would like to get them to come to the table."
The issue then would become one of timing. If the House passed a CR exempting agencies funded by three out of the four bills in conference next week, the Senate could simply amend it and remove the offending language, sending the CR back to conference.
If the House really wanted to play hardball, it would have to consider the CR the last week of October, backing the Senate against a wall.
House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, refused to comment on the CR, but acknowledged Wednesday the difficulty of completing the regular spending bills.
"We are still struggling with how to get finished with the appropriations process," DeLay said. "Those bills that can't pass the Senate, then we'll have to decide how to do that. We haven't made that decision yet."
House Republican Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce of Ohio said Wednesday that House GOP leaders were talking with Senate Majority Leader Frist about the "exit strategy" for spending bills this session.
Republicans would like to avoid consolidating unfinished spending bills in an omnibus package, but Pryce said Congress inevitably would have to pass another continuing resolution.
"How long to make it? Should we do it to Nov. 7? Should we do it to January?" Pryce said, quipping: "You pick a date. They're all kind of arbitrary."
Another complication is the likelihood of Democratic objections.
"These massive, omnibus funding bills are the Frankenstein monster of the legislative process," said Senate Appropriations ranking member Robert Byrd, D-W.Va. "I objected to these massive spending bills during the last administration, and will continue to urge that Congress meet its responsibilities on each individual appropriations bill."