Senate falls behind in moving spending bills

Still tied up in knots over the fiscal 2002 Transportation spending bill, the Senate will be lucky to finish work on five fiscal 2002 appropriations bills--at best--before leaving for the August recess at the end of this week, according to sources. Moreover, with the heavy lifting still to come in the fall on the two largest annual spending bills--Defense and Labor-HHS--as well as the Military Construction and District of Columbia bills, plus conferences on all 13 appropriations measures, the Senate's appropriations floor slowdown has made the outlook bleak for getting more than a handful of bills completed before the Oct. 1 start of the new fiscal year.

The Senate late Friday failed to invoke cloture on the Transportation bill by a vote of 57-27, as Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Phil Gramm, R-Texas, continued to protest the bill's proposed restrictions on Mexican trucks. But Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., switched his vote from yea to nay and then entered a motion to reconsider the cloture vote. Pointing to the 12 senators who did not vote Friday, and last week's 70-30 vote to invoke cloture on the substitute amendment by Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., and subcommittee ranking member Richard Shelby, R-Ala., Daschle was confident Monday that cloture could be invoked on the bill itself and the Senate could pass it before the week is out--even if McCain and Gramm block it from going to conference. Daschle plans to consult with appropriators and his leadership team "and see what makes sense from a lost-time perspective" before deciding when to vote on reconsidering cloture. Daschle said the re-vote, which he expects to win, would occur "some time in the next couple of days." But that could still eat up a fair amount of time and comes at a high price, particularly as Daschle pushes to get the fiscal 2001 farm aid package, the Export Administration Act reauthorzation bill and fiscal 2002 VA-HUD appropriations bill finished before the recess. Daschle and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., had hoped to match the House and get nine fiscal 2002 bills through the Senate before the recess. While Byrd has reported nine bills out of committee, Daschle has been unable to move those bills onto the floor, therefore slowing the conference schedule. To date, no conferences have been convened on any fiscal 2002 spending bills. Despite the appropriations setbacks, Daschle declined to criticize Republicans for the lagging floor schedule, although he did express his concerns. "I'm disappointed that it has slipped for inexplicable reasons," Daschle said, referring to the fact that he has been "open" to moving President Bush's nominations--a concern of Daschle's because Republicans had hinted they may block spending bills if Bush's nominees are not considered in a timely manner. "That's just part of the legislative process," Daschle said. "We're just going to have to do the best we can. We have a lot of work to do. We're just going to have to make time for it in September." House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla., whose own crushing fall workload has been made even heavier by the Senate slowdown, declined to criticize either the Democratic Senate majority, or the GOP senators who have delayed appropriations action on the floor.

"The Senate is the Senate. I can't be critical of what they have or haven't done," Young said, while pointing out that both chambers got off to a late start because the new administration was not able to submit its detailed budget request for fiscal 2002 until April.