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Author: Christy Gullion

Appropriations Process Breaks Down Over the Confederate Flag

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Congressional Republicans and Democrats are already are blaming each other for causing the next government shutdown, which won’t even happen for another 80 days (October 1st). That may seem like plenty of time for lawmakers to work through their differences and approve appropriations bills to keep the federal government running, but the news from Capitol Hill today is not to expect any more appropriations bills to make it through the House chamber until Republicans and Democrats work out issues on the Confederate flag. That’s right. The Confederate flag.

Things aren’t much better in the Senate where Democrats have threatened to block all spending bills until Republicans agree to a deal to lift the spending caps and end the threat of sequestration (across-the-board cuts).

So far the House has approved six of their twelve annual spending bills, with the remaining six bills approved by committee and awaiting floor action. They were likely on track to approve all twelve bills before the end of September before the Confederate flag flap. The Senate has not been moving quite as quickly, and is now at a dead stop. They not approved any of their twelve bills, and have moved only five through committee. Proposed bills and report language can be accessed here.

Mid-Year Appropriations Update

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The appropriations process hit its long-anticipated brick wall last Thursday, as Democrats voted to block, 50-45, the $567 billion Defense spending bill from being considered on the Senate floor.  The move to consider the Defense spending bill as the first appropriations measure on the floor was part of a strategy formulated by Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to put Democrats in the politically awkward position of choosing between a new budget agreement and the military. Senate Democrats continue to say that they want a negotiated budget to replace the spending cuts to national defense and domestic investments known as sequestration. Meanwhile, the White House threatened a veto of the bill should it reach the president’s desk.

Now that the appropriations process has reached its expected impasse, it might be a good time to start talking about the shape of a budget deal. Many hope to see something similar to the two-year deal brokered by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI). The advantage of this type of deal would help avoid another budget battle in 2016, when lawmakers will be campaigning. It also would allow the next Congress to negotiate the future sequester with a new president. Or they could try a fallback one-year deal.

Another option would be to approve a series of stopgap funding measures or a long-term continuing resolution that would stretch current FY2015 spending levels and policy priorities into next year. Such a deal may be undesirable for many, since it would provide agencies with little flexibility and would allocate less base funding for defense and domestic programs than the current appropriations bills. But the worse case scenario would be another government shutdown. No one wants it but everyone thinks they have the upper hand, including tea party conservatives, GOP leaders, defense hawks, and Senate Democrats.

Regardless of the bleak outlook for FY2016 appropriations, several bills continue to move through the process. The House has passed six of the twelve annual spending bills, including Commerce-Justice-Science, Defense, Energy-Water, Legislative Branch, Military Construction-VA, and Transportation-HUD. Interior-Environment is the seventh on the docket and will be considered this week. Three more bills have been reported out of committee and are ready for floor consideration: Financial Services, Interior-Environment and State-Foreign Operations. Homeland Security is the last of the twelve bills to be considered and has yet to get a subcommittee markup. Seven bills made it through the House last year before the process ground to a halt.

In the Senate, six spending bills have been reported out of committee: Defense, Energy-Water, Commerce-Justice-Science, Homeland Security, Interior-Environment, and Legislative Branch. Defense was the lone attempt to bring a bill to the Senate floor, though Republicans might give it another try in the near future to see if they can break the Democrats resolve to block spending bills.

FY2016 Labor-HHS Bill Moves Through Subcommittee

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The House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Subcommittee approved its FY2016 spending bill by voice vote, with all Democrats voting against the proposal. The panel earlier had rejected a dozen amendments in a series of voice votes, with partisan splits apparent over family planning and the implementation of the 2010 health law. However, members of both parties made it clear that they would like to see a new law passed to ease the cap now in place on most federal spending. The measure will be considered by the full appropriations committee next week.

Given the return of sequestration in full force for FY2016, the Labor-HHS panel may have little room to do more than tweak budget accounts. The current budget caps for discretionary spending will make it difficult to reward favored programs without making deep reductions elsewhere.

The Labor-HHS-Education bill may be the one bill that thwarts the Republicans’ goal of moving all 12 appropriations measures by the end of the federal fiscal year (September 30th). Because of the politically-contentious policies carried out through the bill – such as abortion, labor issues, and the Affordable Care Act – there are strong doubts that even GOP control of both the House and Senate can get Congress back in the habit of considering it beyond an omnibus spending package.

But there is a bit of a new dynamic this year, since the Labor-HHS bill funds agencies charged with facing some of the nation’s most pressing issues, including the lingering threat of Ebola, a resurgence of measles, and calls to move ‘cures’ through clinical trials faster. There’s interest in both parties in the budget and operations of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health.

Next week’s full committee mark-up of the Labor-HHS bill will likely be a repeat of yesterday’s subcommittee mark-up. We will see lots of amendments fall along party lines, and the underlying bill will remain largely unchanged from its current draft. And while the full House will likely approve the measure, action in the Senate is still in doubt as Democrats have vowed to block all FY2016 spending measures until a new budget deal is agreed on that will lift the spending caps.

FY16 Appropriations Heats Up

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Happy Monday morning from a hot and steamy DC, where the temperature and humidity are expected to rise into the uncomfortable range this week. Thank goodness for air conditioning!

Also this week, the Supreme Court is expected to hand down one or more decisions today at 10am ET, the first of two batches this week. We’re awaiting potentially landmark judgments involving healthcare subsidies, gay marriage, or lethal injection. Regardless of what the court decides on the healthcare subsidies, it will certainly cause a break in regular order in Congress as they deal with the aftermath.

House appropriators will take up two contentious FY16 bills this week: Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, and Interior-Environment. And Senate appropriators will also mark up their Interior-Environment bill, as well as Homeland Security. These are bills that leaders in recent years have shied away from bringing to the floor due to their propensity for attracting highly partisan policy riders. For example, it’s been nearly six years since the Senate has taken up the Interior-Environment spending bill.

But the path forward on appropriations could be affected by what happens in the Senate, where Democrats have threatened to filibuster all spending bills that adhere to sequester budget caps and the Obama administration has threatened vetoes.

21st Century Cures Proposes Funding Increase for NIH

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The latest version of the 21st Century Cures Act was released this morning and the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health is scheduled to markup the measure on Thursday, May 14th. Like the discussion draft, the updated version provides for an increase in funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH), both through reauthorization and $10 billion over five years in mandatory funding, starting in FY 2016.

Meanwhile, Senator Richard Burr (R-NC), a member of the Senate HELP Committee, said Tuesday the chamber would draft its own biomedical innovation bill rather than picking up the House’s 21st Century Cures Act. HELP Chair Lamar Alexander (R-TN) said the committee had a goal to get a bill on the floor by early next year but many think that is an overly ambitious timeframe.