CONGRESS

The Week on the Hill

by Jill Smallen and Jason Dick

Sat. Jun 21, 2008


Deal Reached on War Funding

House leaders of both parties agreed on June 18 to a compromise package that would provide $162 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars through next June. The package would also boost college aid for military veterans by $60 billion, extend benefits for the unemployed by 13 weeks, and provide more than $2.6 billion for disaster relief after the recent Midwestern floods. And it includes money for food safety, international food aid, scientific research, federal prisons, the Census Bureau, Gulf Coast recovery, and counternarcotics support for Mexico. House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., negotiated the deal with House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other Democratic and GOP leaders. The House at press time on June 19 was scheduled to hold a series of votes on the package designed to placate both liberals opposed to further war funding and conservatives opposed to the domestic spending boosts. "We needed to find a way to allow people to vote their consciences on both issues, without tying us up into knots for the next year," Obey said on June 19. The legislation includes two restrictions on war policy--requiring the Iraqi government to match U.S. reconstruction support dollar-for-dollar and prohibiting permanent U.S. bases in Iraq. Obey said that the agreement means no more Iraq war funding votes before a new president is elected in November. "On both sides of the aisle, there's a recognition that whoever becomes president will need a few months to get his act together, so to speak, to decide what actions he's going to take in extricating ourselves from that war." Boehner called the agreement "a real victory," adding, "It gets our troops the funding they need for success--without hamstringing our commanders in the field with politically motivated war restrictions." The cost of the package's unemployment benefits and veterans education aid will not be offset under the "pay-as-you-go" budget rules, despite demands by the fiscal conservative Blue Dogs.

--Brian Friel/National Journal

New Appropriations Season Begins

The House and Senate Appropriations committees this week cleared billions of dollars of fiscal 2009 spending, getting the annual appropriations process into full swing despite predictions that Congress and the White House will deadlock on key budget issues before the election. With more than $1 trillion to divvy up, House Appropriations subcommittees were on track to approve by June 20 nine of the 12 bills that fund government programs for the fiscal year starting October 1. Those measures include funding for veterans, homeland security, health, and justice. The full Senate Appropriations Committee was moving at press time to clear two bills, funding homeland security and justice and science programs. The bills were advancing with bipartisan support in both chambers, with few differences between the two parties surfacing. But in total, the appropriators seek to exceed President Bush's proposed budget by more than $21 billion. Bush has vowed to veto appropriations that put overall spending above his cap.

--Brian Friel/National Journal

Farm Bill Veto Overridden, Again

The House and Senate agreed by comfortable margins on June 18 to override President Bush's veto of the farm bill. The 317-109 House vote came just hours after the president rejected the measure. The Senate followed a short time later with an 80-14 vote. It was the second time that Bush had vetoed the farm bill only to have Congress cancel his action. A return trip through the legislative process was necessary because of a printing error in May that omitted the legislation's trade title. In his veto message, Bush complained that the measure "lacks program reform and fiscal discipline," adding, "Unfortunately, the Congress chose to send me the same unacceptable farm bill provisions in H.R. 6124, merely adding Title III," the trade title. Senate Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry Committee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, noted that final passage of the farm bill was "a long time coming," adding, "The White House repeatedly tried to veto this measure but could not stand in the way of critical farm, food, conservation, and energy investments becoming law. Not only did this bill pass both chambers with an overwhelming majority, but with the override votes, we held our majorities. This proves we have a good, strong, bipartisan farm bill."

Tax Package Falls Short in Senate

The Senate this week failed to bring up a massive tax bill that would revive various expiring tax provisions, such as the research-and-development credit, that are important to a broad range of companies, and that would provide renewable-energy incentives aimed at spurring alternatives to foreign oil. Proponents failed on a 52-44 procedural vote to gain the 60 votes needed to advance the legislation. The tally was largely unchanged from a similar vote last week. Two endangered Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Norm Coleman of Minnesota, switched their votes to support the package after receiving assurances that Democrats planned to attach language preventing the alternative minimum tax from ensnaring 21 million more taxpayers this year. Senate Republican leaders remain locked in a stare-down with House Democratic leaders over the tax package. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said he would not even bring it to the floor unless its nearly $60 billion cost is fully offset under the "paygo" rules--as the fiscal conservative Blue Dogs would like. Rep. John Tanner, D-Tenn., a veteran Blue Dog, argued that simply ignoring the deficit would be "the most expedient, most politically shortsighted way to go." But Senate Finance Committee ranking member Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, has railed against the Blue Dogs' choice of offsets, declaring, "When it comes to spending cuts, we don't hear much more than a whimper out of the Blue Dogs. On our side, that tax-hike-hungry dog won't hunt." Meanwhile, the House Ways and Means Committee this week approved by a party-line vote an AMT patch costing $61.5 billion. The plan was fully offset by subjecting investment-partnership managers to regular income-tax rates on fees earned from their funds' capital gains; requiring credit card companies to report to the Internal Revenue Service the value of electronic transactions received by merchants; removing deductions enjoyed by oil and gas companies; and tightening treaty rules allowing foreign-owned companies to reduce their tax burden.

--Peter Cohn/CongressDaily

Senate Starts Housing Aid Debate

The Senate on June 19 began debating a housing package that would revamp oversight at mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, overhaul the Federal Housing Administration's mortgage insurance program, and provide $14.5 billion in housing-related tax cuts. Congress is trying to clear the measure to steady a shaky home-mortgage market, where foreclosures have reached record levels, home prices have fallen, and homebuilders and lenders have gone out of business. Senate leaders revised their original package to move it closer to a House-passed version. For example, Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., changed his bill to set loan limits for Fannie and Freddie at $625,000, $75,000 more than called for in legislation that his panel approved last month. By contrast, the House-passed bill would maintain the loan limits at $730,000. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass., complimented the Senate effort but said he wants further negotiations. Dodd, however, contended that he had pushed Senate Republicans as far as possible in their negotiations, noting, "I think Barney recognizes that I have done about as well as I can.... This is a delicate, tender time. We haven't been able to get much through here." Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus, D-Mont., was unable to completely offset the cost of the legislation, coming about $2.4 billion short. House Democrats are still aiming to fully offset the bill to comply with paygo rules.

--Bill Swindell/CongressDaily

FISA Agreement Takes Shape

Breaking a months-long impasse, House and Senate negotiators announced a bipartisan compromise on June 19 on legislation rewriting the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Some lawmakers and aides cautioned, however, that obstacles remain to final passage of the agreement, including opposition from the two top Democrats in the Senate. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., a key negotiator on the issue, at press time was pushing for a quick vote, perhaps as soon as June 20. According to aides, the bill would allow a federal District Court to determine if telecommunications companies should be shielded from lawsuits for helping the Bush administration conduct electronic surveillance on U.S. citizens' communications without warrants. The District Court would throw out lawsuits against companies that could show that the administration had given them a directive and that the warrantless surveillance activity was legal and authorized by the president. The bill would also require the administration to submit its surveillance procedures to the secret FISA court for approval before surveillance could begin, except in exigent circumstances. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Majority Whip Richard Durbin, D-Ill., said they will not support the bill, and some liberal House Democrats are expected to vote against it. The American Civil Liberties Union issued a statement strongly opposing the agreement and calling it unconstitutional. "The Hoyer/Bush surveillance deal was clearly written with the telephone companies and Internet providers at the table and for their benefit," said Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU's Washington legislative office. "They wanted immunity, and this bill gives it to them." Regardless, lawmakers said they think the bill will ultimately have enough support to pass both chambers.

--Chris Strohm/CongressDaily