Shutdown Prevention Debated

Despite statements from Senate GOP leadership aides that leaders will retain automatic continuing resolution language in the fiscal 1997 emergency supplemental appropriations bill -- which the Senate began debating on Monday -- a top White House official today told CongressDaily otherwise.

Office of Management and Budget Director Franklin Raines said the administration "absolutely" insists that provision be dropped from the bill. It would provide continuing appropriations at 98 percent of the FY97 levels for any FY98 appropriations bill not enacted by Sept. 30.

Raines said administration officials have "gotten some indication" the GOP leadership would be willing to drop it. A Senate Democratic leadership aide also said it was their understanding that, as a result of the budget talks, an agreement was reached to drop the CR language from the supplemental. But a Senate Appropriations Committee aide said Appropriations Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, did not intend to offer a substitute amendment to the supplemental bill to strike the automatic CR language.

After the budget deal was announced Friday, Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said the agreement did not mean the Senate would pull the automatic CR language from the supplemental bill and told reporters he very much wants to see some type of automatic funding mechanism enacted to prevent another government shutdown. However, he did say the CR language does not have to be in the supplemental "if we can agree to handle it some other way."

This morning, a Lott spokeswoman said, "Right now, [Lott] has not indicated any change of sentiment" about retaining the language in the supplemental. But another GOP aide said Lott would defer to Senate Commerce Chairman John McCain, R-Ariz., and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, the authors of the provision, on how to proceed. That aide said no commitment was made in the budget agreement to drop the CR language from the supplemental, and that he was "not aware of any effort on our side to strike it."

An aide said McCain "wants to see the issue addressed no matter what" and that McCain "believes the supplemental is the appropriate vehicle for that." The aide said McCain would be "willing to discuss any strategy that would ensure that the Government Shutdown Prevention Act becomes law ... [McCain] is not committed to any strategy but he currently believes that moving it on the supplemental is not only timely but a good strategy at this point."

Should the CR language be retained, a spokeswoman for Senate Appropriations ranking member Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., said Byrd is prepared to offer a motion to strike it from the bill; a similar amendment was defeated on a party-line vote at last week's committee markup.