House Democrats intend to bring a scaled back version of the FY10 supplemental spending bill to the floor by the end of this week, with aid to school districts to prevent teacher layoffs reduced from $23 billion to $10 billion. The teacher funding is intended to help prevent layoffs for 140,000 school employees next year. The latest draft also includes funding for Pell Grants to address an unanticipated current year shortfall but the amount was reduced to $4.95 billion from $5.7 billion in this latest version. The Senate version of the bill does not including funding for K-12 teachers or for Pell Grants.
Category: Budget
FY11 Appropriations Update
On Tuesday, the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Justice-Science approved its FY11 draft bill, which would provide $60.5 billion in discretionary spending. The draft measure would provide $3.9 billion (6 percent) less than 2010 levels, mostly because of the significant increase provided last year to perform the census, and just $2.7 million less than President Obama requested. House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-WI) has said that discretionary spending in all of this year’s House appropriations bills, except for Homeland Security, will fall below the president’s request. The draft bill would, however, provide a healthy boost for most of the agencies and programs under the Commerce Department, including $5.5 billion in discretionary funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) representing a 17 percent increase above FY10 levels. The bill funds the Administration’s request for $26.4 billion for science programs, including $7.4 billion for the National Science Foundation (NSF).
Two additional markups are scheduled for today in the House: Agriculture and State-Foreign Operations.
FY11 Appropriations Process Moving Forward
Members of Congress face a busy week as they attempt to advance some major bills before the start of the July Fourth recess. At the same time, the FY11 appropriations process may also begin to gear up this week and move forward after the July recess period.
House Democrats would like to approve the FY10 supplemental budget by the end of this week, which would provide critical war funding as well as some other “emergency” funding including money to help states prevent teacher layoffs. Democratic leaders are considering using a process where two separate votes would be taken; one for the war money and another for all the other funding. The supplemental plan now being circulated by Democrats would total $61.5 billion, and would include $10 billion to prevent K-12 teacher layoffs and $4.95 billion for Pell grants. The Pell grant funding would help fill a hole in the president’s budget request for FY11, and effectively free up discretionary spending for this year’s appropriations bills.
Meanwhile, we may see action on the FY11 appropriations process this week as the House Appropriations subcommittees begin to consider a series of FY11 spending bills. House appropriators could have half their bills approved at the subcommittee level by the end of the week, with five markups scheduled. The Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee approved its draft last week, and the following five subcommittees are set to meet in coming days: Commerce-Justice-Science (Tuesday); Agriculture and State-Foreign Operations (Wednesday); and Legislative Branch and Transportation-HUD (Thursday). However, most of these bills are not expected to be considered on the House floor before November, necessitating a long-term continuing resolution (CR). Republican appropriators have already signaled that they intend to offer amendments at the subcommittee mark-ups as they may not get another chance to express their concerns about federal spending until after the mid-term elections.
The Senate may also begin to move a few of their own spending measures. The Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee has suggested that a couple of the FY11 spending bills would be considered this week but the schedule is still unclear at this point. If markups for spending bills are scheduled this week and the committee follows past practices, both a subcommittee and full committee markup would be held for the bills considered.
House and Senate Likely to Bypass Formal Budget Resolution
Leaders in the House and Senate have apparently decided to forgo the development and passage of a typical 5-year budget resolution and will instead set a one-year spending plan. The plan will provide caps for discretionary spending in the 12 appropriations bills that fund federal government operations. According to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD), the proposed spending caps will require reductions below the budget figures recommended by President Obama in February. Further, the House plan calls for the 12 appropriations sub-committees to find efficiencies through the elimination of unnecessary programs within their jurisdiction.
In the House, it is expected that the spending caps will move alongside an FY10 supplemental spending bill prior to the July 4th congressional recess. The Senate timeline for approving the spending caps is less clear at this time, though budget chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND) has expressed tentative support for the concept.
The long expected decision will likely clear the way for consideration of the individual FY11 spending bills, as it gives the various sub-committees top-line allocations to work with. Although some appropriations bills may advance in July, it remains highly likely that most will be rolled into an omnibus appropriations package after the November election.
Little Signs of Life in FY11 Appropriations Process
The consideration of FY11 spending bills has been delayed for weeks, largely due to the inability of the House and Senate to produce a budget resolution. Each year, one of the first steps Congress takes in the appropriations process is the development of a budget resolution. A budget resolution sets the spending limits for the 12 appropriations bills that Congress considers. The resolution is not a mandatory part of the process, but is one that many deem fiscally responsible. Moving forward in the appropriations process without a budget resolution is akin to a family spending money without ever setting a budget for itself.
Despite dozens of hearings on President Obama’s FY11 budget request and some committee staff action in developing the bills, the appropriations process has largely been placed on hold. The stalemate over a budget resolution combined with the necessary consideration of a FY10 supplemental spending bill and a package of tax break extensions has resulted in little recent action on the FY11 appropriations bills.
Early this week, leaders on the Hill gave some indication that they might hold subcommittee markups on a few appropriations bills prior to the July 4th congressional recess. Nonetheless, it remains highly improbable that Congress will send appropriations bills to the President until after the November mid-term elections. On October 1st, Congress will likely need to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to keep the government operating until it can pass the FY11 spending bills. A CR would continue government functions at existing (FY10) levels. However, it should be noted that congressionally directed appropriations that are a part of the FY11 process will not be funded until new spending measures are signed into law.