Strategy on emergency spending bill unclear

Congress will consider an emergency supplemental spending package toward the end of the fiscal 1999 appropriations process, but it remains unclear whether that spending will be offset by cuts in other programs, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bob Livingston, R-La., said Friday.

Livingston said he expects less than $4 billion of supplemental agriculture spending to be included in the Agriculture appropriations measure, but said additional funding for defense, diplomatic security and the year 2000 computer problem will be combined into a separate bill.

In the past, House Republicans have insisted that such spending be offset, and GOP moderates and conservatives have been working on a list of possible offsets. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, has said he would be more willing to designate spending as emergencies outside the spending caps.

Asked if the supplemental spending will be offset, Livingston said it is "undetermined as of yet." Livingston declined to say whether the supplemental could become a vehicle for deals that are needed to complete the appropriations process, but he added, "Our intent is not to load this down with extraneous projects."

Meanwhile, one of the moderate House Republicans working on an offset list said the task is progressing. Rep. Rick Lazio, R- N.Y., said the group of moderates and conservatives has identified potential offsets. "We need to make some decisions about whether those are acceptable," Lazio said.

Also, House Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Edward Porter, R-Ill., said Republicans may be getting close to agreement on a way to bring the Labor-HHS bill to the floor. "I think we're pretty close to getting the rule worked out," he said. "If we pass the rule, we can pass the bill."

The same conservatives and moderates who have been working on the offsets issue have been battling over the Labor-HHS rule. It remained unclear late last week how the rule might be worked out, but Rep. James Greenwood, R-Pa., said moderates may be close to getting a rule they believe is acceptable. That rule, Greenwood said, would set up a floor fight over family planning, with members being able to offer a second-degree amendment. However, an aide to a House conservative said conservatives firmly believe they will get the rule they want, or the bill will not come to the floor.

In a related matter, a White House official said he expects President Clinton to agree to the continuing resolution passed by Congress this week to extend current funding through Oct. 9. "It appears to be clean. [Republicans] seem to have made the wise decision not to play games with it," the official said. But he could not say when Clinton would sign it.