Despite the dwindling number of legislative days left on the calendar, frustrated GOP congressional leaders left last week for the Memorial Day recess having made little progress on the ambitious appropriations schedule they set for themselves at the beginning of the session.
Instead of passing four fiscal 2001 spending bills in each chamber, the House and Senate have combined to pass just four: the House has passed an $8.6 billion Military Construction spending bill and a $15.8 Transportation spending bill, while the Senate did its version of the Military Construction and Legislative Branch measures.
House leaders had hoped to move the $14.4 billion Agriculture bill and the House version of the Legislative Branch bill this week, but ran into roadblocks on both. They had to pull the rule for the Agriculture bill Thursday rather than risk seeing it defeated by opponents of the $115 million offset package to cover FY2000 supplemental aid to apple and potato farmers, as well as by legislators angry the rule did not protect an amendment to lift the ban on food and medicine exports to Cuba, Iran, Libya, Sudan and North Korea.
The equally controversial Legislative Branch appropriations bill did not even make it that far; the $1.8 billion measure has drawn heavy criticism, including from the Senate, for its deep cuts.
In response, House leaders plan to add another $100 million to the bill-but to do so, they must amend the Appropriations subcommittee spending allocations to take it out of another bill. To date, the House Appropriations Committee has marked up the following FY2001 bills: Agriculture, Military Construction, Legislative Branch, Labor-HHS, Transportation, Defense and Interior.
Senate consideration of FY2001 appropriations bills has been stymied by the refusal of Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., to grant unanimous consent for the Senate to take up any appropriations bill not first passed by the House. Daschle is waging a procedural war over how Lott runs the Senate, which Daschle charges is by limiting the minority's right to offer amendments.
Although Daschle let the Legislative Branch spending bill through, he has blocked consideration of the Agriculture and Defense spending measures. Daschle's tactics also have left hanging the FY2001 Foreign Operations and Labor-HHS bills, which have cleared the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Unable to put the FY2001 Agriculture and Foreign Operations spending bills on the floor, Lott also has seen his strategy for moving FY2000 supplemental funds stalled.
When the House in late March passed a $12.7 billion supplemental to fund anti-drug efforts in Colombia, peacekeeping in Bosnia, and disaster aid to farmers and other victims of Hurricane Floyd, Lott rejected it as too pork-laden. Instead, he directed Appropriations Chairman Stevens, who wanted to mark up a stand-alone bill in early April, to split it into three parts and attach them to the FY2001 bills of jurisdiction.
The Military Construction appropriations bill, now awaiting a conference with the House, is to carry the supplemental fund for Bosnia, the stranded Foreign Operations spending bill the Colombia money and the Agriculture spending bill all of the emergency disaster aid.
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