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Today's Headlines •  Democrats Opt To Extend New CR For Rest Of Year •  Report: McDermott Violated Ethics Panel Rules In Tape Case - Advertisement - - Advertisement -		Monday, December 11, 2006 SPECIAL EDITION BUDGET Democrats Opt To Extend New CR For Rest Of Year          Democrats announced this afternoon they plan to enact a continuing resolution for the duration of FY07, after Republicans gave up on passing individually the nine appropriations bills covering the domestic portion of the federal budget. In its final hours Friday, Congress passed a stopgap measure running through Feb. 15, and the incoming chairmen of the House and Senate Appropriations committees said they would simply extend the measure out rather than attempting to pass the leftover FY07 spending bills. President Bush is expected to submit his FY08 budget and a new supplemental spending request for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan in early February. "It is important that we clear the decks quickly so that we can get to work on the American people's priorities, the president's anticipated war funding request, and a new budget," incoming House Appropriations Chairman Obey and Senate Appropriations Chairman Byrd said in a joint statement. "After discussions with our colleagues, we have decided to dispose of the Republican budget leftovers by passing a year-long joint resolution ... we must turn the page on the Republican failures and work together in the best interests of the American people."      Obey and Byrd said they would make "limited adjustments" in that GOP-written CR to address important policy priorities, but that the extended version would have none of the earmarks contained in the remaining FY07 spending bills. The Democrats said they were placing a "moratorium" on all earmarks until reforms are put in place. "We will work to restore an accountable, above-board, transparent process for funding decisions and put an end to the abuses that have harmed the credibility of Congress," they said. Only two FY07 spending bills have been signed into law, the Defense and Homeland Security measures. That leaves about $463 billion in unfinished agency budgets that will be funded under a yearlong CR. Obey and Byrd noted the last time all the spending bills were completed separately and on time was 1994 -- the last year of Democratic control of Congress.     -- by Peter Cohn ETHICS Report: McDermott Violated Ethics Panel Rules In Tape Case          Rep. Jim McDermott, D-Wash., violated House Ethics Committee rules by giving reporters access to an illegally taped telephone call involving House Republican leaders a decade ago, the Ethics Committee said in a report released today. The committee did not recommend any further action, but said McDermott -- a former ranking member of the panel -- had failed to meet his obligations as a committee leader. "Rep. McDermott's secretive disclosures to the news media ... risked undermining the ethics process regarding" former House Speaker Gingrich, the report said, while adding that McDermott's actions "were not consistent with the spirit of the committee's rules." McDermott, in an e-mail to the Associated Press, said he was pleased that the Ethics panel had concluded he did not violate overall House rules.      The ethics complaint stems from a tape recording made by a Florida couple, who gave it to McDermott in January 1997. The tape recorded Gingrich in a December 1996 conference call with GOP leaders regarding a separate ethics investigation of Gingrich. Gingrich, who was heard on the call telling House Republicans how to react to the ethics charges against him, was later fined $300,000 and reprimanded by the House. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled against McDermott in a related civil case in March. The court upheld a lower court ruling that McDermott had violated the rights of now-House Majority Leader Boehner, who was heard on the 1996 call.

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