House passes spending bills, but tough work lies ahead

The House made quick work of the fiscal 2002 Legislative Branch appropriations bill Tuesday, passing the $2.2 billion measure by an overwhelming vote of 380-38 after little more than half an hour of debate.

With Monday night's 336-89 passage of the FY02 VA-HUD spending bill, Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla., pointed out the House will leave for the August recess having completed work on nine of the 13 FY02 spending bills.

But with conference committees yet to convene on any of those bills, the Senate stalled on the Transportation spending bill, and work on the two largest appropriations bills--Labor-HHS and Defense--as well as the Military Construction and District of Columbia spending bills yet to be done, Young said, "September will be an intense time for all of us."

Meanwhile, House Democrats continued to charge that President Bush's tax cut is putting the Medicare trust fund surplus in jeopardy.

House Budget ranking member John Spratt, D-S.C., recently sent a letter to members warning that: "In the weeks ahead Congress will struggle to pass the 13 regular appropriations bills. Republicans will try to argue that excessive spending is causing the Medicare surplus to be tapped. They will want us … to forget that the Bush tax cut put us in this fiscal straitjacket."