House passes Kosovo bill; FY2000 spending fights loom

The House Tuesday night passed, on a 269-158 vote, a $15 billion fiscal 1999 supplemental appropriations bill to pay for U.S. military operations in the Balkans and other defense needs, as well as disaster relief in the Midwest and Central America. The Senate is expected to vote Thursday on the emergency spending package.

Despite numerous member complaints Tuesday about the legislative riders, non-emergency spending and the overall cost of the supplemental, which except for $1.9 billion in offsets will come out of the Social Security surplus, the situation will only get tougher for Republican leaders as they turn to FY2000 appropriations.

With the House Appropriations Committee scheduled to adopt FY2000 subcommittee allocations this morning, the GOP leadership is conducting "listening sessions" with members this week to discuss strategy on the difficult task ahead. The Senate Appropriations Committee could adopt its subcommittee allocations either Friday or next Tuesday, when it is scheduled to mark up the FY2000 defense bill.

In a letter to House Republicans, Majority Whip Tom DeLay, R-Texas, and Chief Deputy Majority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo., wrote that leadership's goal is to "forge a unified position that will help guide congressional Republicans through the long, arduous appropriations process. If we are to govern effectively as a party, we have no choice but to come together this summer and pass bills that we can all support and that effectively serve all of our constituents."

But Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, predicted Tuesday that Congress and the administration are headed for another September "train wreck" over spending priorities. "It's a bad, bad scene. ... We're back on the same track [as last year] because the allocations are much lower," Stevens told reporters.

Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., later responded that Stevens is an appropriator, and "appropriators are in the business of spending money. ... But I hope to make it as difficult for them as I can." Lott said that to increase the allocations, "you have to change law. And I'm not prepared to do that. Period."

Senate VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., said she and Subcommittee Chairman Christopher (Kit) Bond, R-Mo., are "both distressed" about the approximately 10 percent cut in their allocation for next year.

"We're going to need more money in our allocation, especially in the core programs for veterans, public housing and the environment," Mikulski said.

In separate comments, Bond concurred, saying he has made Stevens and Lott "fully aware" of his concerns and "we're going to work it out."

Despite Democratic appropriators' complaints, they have no intention of making Republican leaders' job any easier. Senate Minority Whip Reid, the ranking member on the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, said passing FY2000 bills "is going to be tough," but that Democrats will not be pushing for higher allocations.

"It's up to them," Reid said of Republican leaders. "If they want these cuts [to stay under the cap], they're going to get them."