Copyright 2000 The National Journal, Inc.
The National Journal
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May 20, 2000
SECTION: APPROPRIATIONS; Pg. 1612; Vol. 32, No. 21
LENGTH: 749 words
HEADLINE:
Spending Bills Swim Upstream
BYLINE: Bill Ghent and
David Hess
BODY:
Democrats don't care for many of this year's
appropriations bills, so
it was no surprise when Rep. David R.
Obey, D-Wis., compared the fiscal 2001
Interior spending bill to
a "drowning man" flailing in turbulent waters 25
feet from shore.
Worried rescuers tossed him a life preserver-attached to a
15-
foot rope.
"The sentiment is nice, but the
result is not going to be
all that helpful," cracked Obey, the ranking
member of the House
Appropriations Committee.
House and Senate Appropriations panels, toiling at a much
faster pace
than usual, moved the fiscal 2001 Transportation,
Interior, Defense, and
Legislative Branch spending bills on May
16, 17, and 18. But veto threats
loom over many of the bills.
The Interior bill that
cleared a House Appropriations
subcommittee on May 17 provides $ 14.6
billion in discretionary
spending, a reduction of $ 300 million below fiscal
2000 and about $1.7 billion below the President's request. The Administration is
not only feeling shortchanged, it also strongly opposes two
legislative
provisions that would limit its actions.
All sides,
however, were pleased that the bill includes $350 million in fiscal 2000
emergency funds for fighting some of
the worst forest fires the nation has
experienced in years.
Meanwhile, the Senate
Appropriations Defense Subcommittee
approved a $ 287.4 billion spending plan
for the Pentagon on May
17. The Defense spending bill escaped a bombardment
of amendments
at the full committee on May 18, and it passed
28-0. Some
incoming fire is expected on the Senate floor, but the
bill probably won't
be altered much.
Senators pumped up defense spending
by $ 3 billion over
President Clinton's request, although the total amount
remains $ 1
billion short of the House's Defense appropriations bill. In
addition, the Senate spending subpanel went along with the Senate
Armed
Services Committee's recommendation that a 21st-Century
Joint Strike Fighter
remain a high priority, but appropriators
delayed a decision on proceeding
to the manufacturing and
development of the high-tech warplane.
Senators penciled in $ 460 million for building an
amphibious assault ship (LHD-8) at Mississippi's Litton Ingalls
Shipbuilding at the behest of Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott,
R-Miss., and subcommittee member Thad Cochran, R-Miss. It also
authorized proceeding with construction of nuclear-powered attack
submarines at Groton, Conn., and Newport News, Va., the home
state of
Senate Armed Services Chairman John W. Warner, R-Va. In
all, the bill boosts
spending in fiscal 2001 for weapons
purchases by $ 3 billion, for a total of
$ 63.3 billion.
Contentious items in the bill
include a $ 4.1 billion
appropriation to maintain U.S. peacekeeping forces
in Kosovo,
Bosnia, and Southwest Asia, and $ 139 million to continue
research
and testing on a national missile defense system. The
subcommittee also approved a 3.7 percent pay raise for military
personnel and supported improvements in the beleaguered military
health
care system.
In the House, the Appropriations
Committee approved a $ 55
billion Transportation spending bill on May 16.
The bill includes $15.76 billion in discretionary funds-an increase of $ 1.39
billion over current levels and $ 400 million less than the
President
requested.
Rep. Frank R. Wolf, R-Va., the
Appropriations
Transportation Subcommittee chairman, highlighted the bill's
15
percent increase for the Coast Guard, as well as its full support
for
highway and aviation accounts, as prescribed by the recent
TEA-21 and AIR-21
reauthorization bills.
But the panel put off for the
House floor what could be a
big fight over provisions to prohibit the
Administration from
revising current Corporate Average Fuel Economy, or
"CAFE,"
standards. Environmentalists want stricter
standards, especially
in response to the growing number of
sport utility vehicles on
the roads. But the automobile industry prefers
voluntary CAFE
revisions.
Meanwhile, Democrats
are developing a morbid sense of
humor about the appropriations process and
are continuing to
refrain from offering amendments to bills that they expect
to be
vetoed. "We might as well get on with the hanging and see if we
can resurrect the corpse somewhere down the road," Obey declared.
LOAD-DATE: May 23, 2000 
