Senate has full plate with Defense and stopgap spending bills
Continuing resolution would fund most agencies at fiscal 2009 levels, but would include a boost for veterans health and the 2010 census.
The appropriations agenda will be front and center this week as the Senate returns Tuesday to consider the $636 billion, fiscal 2010 Defense Appropriations bill and might consider a continuing resolution to fund the government into the next fiscal year that starts Thursday.
Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., will continue his quest to bar the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now from receiving government funding, having filed an amendment to the Defense bill that prevents money from making its way to the embattled nonprofit.
Johanns has attached similar ACORN amendments to the $122 billion fiscal 2010 Transportation-HUD Appropriations bill and the $32.1 billion, fiscal 2010 Interior-Environment Appropriations bill.
The Congressional Research Service expressed concerns last week that blanket congressional bans on funding to the group might be bills of attainder and therefore unconstitutional.
Johanns' amendments came after ACORN was targeted in a sting by conservative activists who posed as a pimp and a prostitute and caught ACORN workers on video advising them how to get around tax and housing law. Since the videos emerged, ACORN has launched an internal investigation.
The amendment came as Bank of America said Monday that as a result of allegations of wrongdoing, the bank has suspended commitments to ACORN and will not enter into any further agreements with ACORN or any of its affiliates.
"We are conducting our own assessment of the operations of the organizations and will consider the findings of the independent auditor hired by ACORN," the bank said in a statement.
On Friday, House Financial Services Committee ranking member Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., and two other Republican lawmakers sent a letter to financial institutions seeking disclosure of funds provided to ACORN. The letter was sent to Bank of America; Citigroup; JP Morgan Chase; Wells Fargo; PNC; BB&T; US Bank; Fifth Third; Sun Trust; Regions; HSBC; TD Bank; Capital One Financial; and Key Corp.
Votes on amendments to the Defense bill could come late Tuesday, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said last week.
The war in Afghanistan and the Obama administration's decision earlier this month to overhaul its plans for missile defense in Europe will loom large during floor debate on the Defense bill, Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, suggested last week.
Despite the administration's misgivings about a few provisions, the Senate bill, which largely endorses the Pentagon's fiscal 2010 budget request, does not contain any veto bait. The House-passed bill contains funding to continue the troubled VH-71 presidential helicopter and the unwanted alternate engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter -- both of which provoked a veto threat.
The Defense bill is the seventh spending measure to be considered by the Senate this year, while the House has completed its version of all 12 of the annual appropriations bills. Following approval of the Defense measure, a Reid aide said, the Senate could take up either the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations bill or the Military Construction-VA spending measure.
Meanwhile, the Senate's consideration of the stopgap CR to fund the government through the end of October will come as part of the final version of the $4.6 billion, fiscal 2010 Legislative Branch Appropriations bill.
Under the CR, approved by the House last week, 217-190, most government programs will be funded at fiscal 2009 levels. However, the Veterans Health Administration would receive a boost to help cope with 6.1 million more patients in fiscal 2010, as would the Census Bureau as it prepares for the 2010 census.
The CR also includes a provision barring funds from going to ACORN and includes language to help cover a budget shortfall by allowing the Postal Service to reduce a payment designed to prefund retiree health benefits. The measure also extends various authorizations, including surface and aviation transportation programs.
Meanwhile, House and Senate negotiators will convene a conference committee this evening to reconcile differences between their respective versions of the fiscal 2010 Energy and Water Appropriations bills, the House Appropriations Committee announced Monday.
Senate Democrats and renewable energy advocates had been eyeing the fiscal 2010 Energy and Water Appropriations bill as a possible vehicle to replenish $2 billion in renewable energy loan guarantee funds from the stimulus that was recently redirected to fund an extension of the cash-for-clunkers program.
But it is unclear if the funds would be included in the compromise Energy and Water bill. A spokesman for Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., Monday could not provide details on the matter.
The Senate passed its $34.3 billion Energy and Water bill in late July, which includes $27.4 billion for the Energy Department, which oversees the loan guarantee program. The House approved its $33.3 billion bill in mid July, which provides $26.9 billion for the department.
A conference for the fiscal 2010 Agriculture spending bill could also be convened this week, House appropriators said recently.
Megan Scully contributed to this report.