Appropriators, OMB bicker over final budget details

Appropriators and the Office of Management and Budget remained at an impasse Friday over the $686 billion fiscal 2002 budget deal that sources said the Bush administration is now prepared to accept, bickering over the particular wording of the written request the four Appropriations chairmen and ranking members are insisting the White House submit before they exceed the discretionary spending limit set in the FY02 budget resolution.

The budget resolution, written in consultation with the administration when both chambers were still under Republican control, set the FY02 discretionary spending total at $661.3 billion, subject to the submission of the President's FY02 defense amendment. That $18.4 billion request brought the figure to $679.7 billion.

But last week, appropriators informed OMB Director Mitch Daniels they would need another $6 billion--$4 billion more for education and $2.2 billion to cover emergency disaster spending approved by the Senate. For $686 billion, appropriators say they could complete the 13 annual spending bills--none of which has yet to be sent to the President--by the end of October.

White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer this afternoon said both sides were "very close to an agreement." Fleischer said he had spoken too soon this morning when he indicated a deal on $686 billion had been all but finalized.

Although House GOP conservatives have called on their leadership to stick to the $679 billion figure, and Daniels himself balked at going any higher without offsets, GOP sources said he was overruled by Bush.

But progress toward sealing the deal remained stalled over the exact wording and format of the administration's request for the extra spending. The request is a matter of political as well as constitutional significance, since appropriators are concerned as much about getting the White House to formally endorse the deal--a concern shared by congressional leaders of both parties--as they are with safeguarding their power of the purse.

Once a deal is reached, the committees can mark up their two largest bills, the Labor-HHS and Defense spending measures.

At the same time, the administration is pressing ahead with its response to the terrorist attacks, after releasing $5 billion of the $40 billion emergency anti-terrorism supplemental last Friday.

Appropriators expect OMB to notify them either today or Monday about how it plans to spend the second $5 billion of the $10 billion the supplemental made immediately available to the administration to respond to the attacks.

To spend the next $10 billion, the administration must submit a detailed plan to Congress outlining how it will be used, which Congress will have 15 days to review. Meetings with OMB officials about that second $10 billion are expected early next week.

At the same time, the defense, national security and intelligence agencies last week submitted to OMB a list of roughly $42 billion in additional spending they say is needed to respond to the attacks.

If approved by the administration, some of that could be paid for out of the supplemental, although at least $20 billion of the supplemental must be devoted to humanitarian and domestic expenses. The rest would likely have to be requested in a future supplemental.