House Republicans intend to pass a continuing resolution lasting until Oct. 10 or Oct. 11, confident that they can finish all 13 fiscal 1999 spending bills by then, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston, R-La., said Wednesday.
"We will finish our work by then," Livingston said, briefing reporters after a House Republican leadership retreat. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, with whom Livingston met Wednesday, had called for a CR lasting until Oct. 7 to give Congress time to finish the bills.
A House Democratic aide said Democrats will support a short- term CR, saying that a proposal lasting through Oct. 12 would be "very agreeable to us."
However, some conservatives would support an effort to pass a "flat" long-term CR to make it clear that Republicans will not shut down the federal government, Rep. David McIntosh, R-Ind., chairman of the Conservative Action Team, said Wednesday. Such a CR would amount to a "backup" plan, he said.
Livingston made it clear that he is willing to actively negotiate with the Clinton administration on the spending bills, but he reminded President Clinton that he had agreed to a budget deal that set spending caps for this year.
"We're prepared to sit down with the President and discuss these bills," he said. Asked how an impeachment inquiry might affect those talks, he said it adds "a couple of more ingredients. It makes life more interesting."
Following his meeting with Stevens, Livingston said the issue of designating certain spending as emergency spending and outside the budget caps has not been resolved. Stevens wants to designate some spending as emergency, a move that many House Republicans oppose.
"Our respective conferences have differences," Livingston said. "I think we'll defer."
Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Committee is scheduled today to mark up the FY99 Foreign Operations appropriations bill, legislation that will bring contentious debate over funding for the International Monetary Fund to a head.
The administration has asked for an additional $18 billion for the IMF, but Livingston said that recent economic problems in Russia make support for that funding more shaky.
"I cannot say with certainty where the votes are," he said. However, a key House Republican aide said he believes the committee may have the votes to add the full $18 billion.
House Republicans also said the contentious issues hounding the Labor-HHS funding bill have not been resolved.
McIntosh said conservatives "are pushing hard" for a rule that would contain language protecting a provision requiring parental notification for teenagers seeking contraceptives from federal family planning agencies.
Many Democrats and moderate Republicans do not want the language protected.
McIntosh said House conservatives are trying to work with conservative Democrats to support the rule, adding that they are making the case that "a `no' vote on the rule is a vote to shut down the government."
In a related development, Democratic Budget Committee members Wednesday cited a new CBO report, saying that a recession similar to the economic problems of the early 1990s could eliminate any budget surplus and result in a budget deficit of more than $50 billion in two years.
"We should not raid projected surpluses that may never materialize," Senate Budget ranking member Frank Lautenberg, D- N.J., said in releasing the report.
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