Next round of emergency funding may strain budget

Even as they continue to work through the regular fiscal 2002 appropriations process and keep track of the $40 billion emergency supplemental enacted to respond to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, top appropriators on either side of the Capitol are already looking ahead to the next round of emergency spending they could be called upon to approve.

New York GOP Gov. George Pataki made the rounds on Capitol Hill Thursday, meeting with congressional leaders and appropriators about his request for a total of $54 billion in recovery aid. House Appropriations Committee Chairman Bill Young, R-Fla., who met with Pataki, later said he wants to be responsive to the needs of New Yorkers, and asked the governor to submit a detailed list of exactly what the state would require.

"I want to be as helpful to New York in their recovery from this tragedy as I possibly can be," Young said, adding, "I also want to see what the president includes in his request for New York" before drawing any conclusions about how much money will ultimately be needed.

But because the fiscal 2002 funding limit has been reset to $686 billion, Young acknowledged that any further appropriations for New York--as well as any discretionary spending that could be included in the economic stimulus package "over and above the $40 billion" supplemental enacted last month--"obviously would have to be done as an emergency."

The administration is expected to submit its formal budget request for the second $20 billion of the $40 billion supplemental as early as Monday. Of the first $20 billion authorized, the administration has released $7.1 billion so far.

Senate Appropriations Committee ranking member Ted Stevens, R-Alaska, who along with Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., met with Pataki and New York Democratic Sens. Charles Schumer and Hillary Rodham Clinton, worried that the additional billions they are requesting will have to come out of the Social Security surplus.

Stevens told reporters appropriators are concerned about "how do we find the money to pay for the demands that are being made upon us and at the same time" provide the increased funding being requested for priority agencies such as the FBI, the Federal Aviation Administration and the Coast Guard.

Stevens added: "I think my greatest fear is the problem of dealing with the source of the funds that are being demanded of the appropriations process, and I see a collision coming between us and the budget committees in the very near future. So it's going to be a very difficult period for us, not only for the balance of this year but particularly in the early part of next year, when many of the estimates that are being made on what it's going to cost to recover from these attacks are going to be given to us."

Following the meeting, Byrd said he and Stevens "sympathize profoundly" with the New York delegation and all New Yorkers affected by the attacks, but added, "We can only say we'll do the best we can with the limited resources that the federal government has, and the constrictions, from the standpoint of the budget, under which we labor."