House Rules Committee votes for two-year budgeting

Angering appropriators and perhaps fighting a lost cause, the House Rules Committee Thursday passed a sweeping budget reform measure to set up a two-year budget cycle.

A majority of Republican lawmakers, with the backing of some Democrats, have been trying to pass a biennial budget bill for the past several years, saying it would decrease the time Congress spends on the annual appropriations cycle and give legislators more time for oversight and authorizing legislation.

Under a two-year cycle, multiyear appropriations bills would be passed in the first half of a two-year congressional season, while supplemental spending bills and other legislation would be passed in the second.

But appropriators typically see a biennial budget as infringing on their authority--and that of Congress in general-- over the "power of the purse." They say they need the ability to stop or start new spending on an annual basis.

They also contend that biennial budgeting would lead to a slew of supplemental spending bills, which could jeopardize fiscal stability, given their tendency to grow far beyond their original size and scope.

Even the mention of a markup by the Rules panel, which shares jurisdiction over the bill with the Budget Committee, set off appropriators.

They threatened to slow this year's already protracted appropriations work if the committee went through with the markup. On Thursday, they postponed a scheduled conference on the VA-HUD spending bill in protest.

The House Appropriations spokesman called the idea of marking up a biennial budgeting bill when appropriators are trying to finish work on remaining fiscal 2002 spending bills a "stick in the eye."

Appropriators plan to ask the House leadership to bring the bill to the floor next week so they can work to defeat the measure. Last year, the House rejected a similar bill by a 217- 201 margin.

But Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, R-Calif., indicated Thursday that the bill probably would not see floor action until the beginning of next year, given time constraints and a sizable remaining legislative load that includes appropriations bills and anti-terrorism measures.