Defense appropriations bill becoming magnet for emergency spending
Forest Service looks to tack on $500 million in firefighting funds to the only fast-moving spending bill in town.
House and Senate negotiators on the fiscal 2005 Defense appropriations conference report are mulling the possibility of including $500 million in emergency wildfire suppression funds for the current fiscal year, congressional aides said Monday.
While no final decision has been made, a move to speed delivery of emergency fiscal 2004 firefighting funds reflects the urgency of the problem facing the Forest Service, which might have to borrow as much as $250 million to avoid dipping into other accounts before the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30, according to initial estimates provided to congressional staff.
The possible maneuver also reflects a growing sense that the Defense bill might be the only fast-moving legislative vehicle lawmakers will complete action on before the summer recess begins July 23, making it a magnet for other spending measures.
"It's the only train leaving the station," a House Republican aide said of the Pentagon funding bill, which contains about $417 billion in spending -- including $25 billion for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan that could be made available upon enactment.
President Bush has made enactment of the Defense spending bill a priority before lawmakers adjourn for the recess and the parties' presidential nominating conventions. That timetable could put congressional GOP leaders and the White House at odds as negotiations continue this week over the details of the Defense spending bill.
Several items already tacked on in both chambers have drawn rebukes from the administration. For example, both chambers added $95 million to the Defense bill for emergency assistance to the Darfur region of Sudan, where recent fighting has displaced thousands of civilians.
While Bush condemned "these atrocities," the Office of Management and Budget said in a Statement of Administration Policy accompanying the House version of the Defense spending bill that the administration already has $400 million available for Sudan in 2004, as well as $140 million pledged for Darfur in 2005.
A $19.4 billion foreign-aid spending bill, to be considered Thursday in the House, contains another $311 million for Sudan.
The House also added $685 million for embassy security needs in Iraq to the Defense bill, contrary to the administration's wishes. OMB said firm estimates had not yet been provided for expenses related to the new U.S. mission in Iraq, so the funding would be requested next year as part of a fiscal 2005 supplemental.
As for the wildfire suppression funds, the Bush administration has already taken issue with carving out additional money for emergency needs without a prior supplemental request.
A total of $1 billion in emergency fire suppression funds -- $500 million each for fiscal 2004 and 2005 -- are included in both the House-passed Interior spending bill and the Senate version. The Senate version was approved informally by subcommittee members but has yet to reach the full Senate Appropriations Committee.
Due to the Senate's budget impasse, the Interior appropriations bill is likely to be included in an omnibus package that would not be enacted until after the November elections.
"While adequate funding for wildland firefighting is essential, the administration objects to the bill's language that eliminates incentives for cost control and makes emergency supplemental funding available without a request from the president that such funds are an emergency requirement," OMB said.
However, the provision has broad support in both chambers, including from the Budget committees, which approved the emergency fund as part of the fiscal 2005 budget resolution approved in the House but stuck in the Senate.
And the funding is particularly important to Western lawmakers, who are well represented on both House and Senate Appropriations committees.
The report accompanying the House Interior measure explains the need for supplemental funds as the result of "severe wildfire conditions" in 2004, and intended to avoid the heavy borrowing marked in past years by "project cancellations, strained relationships with partners, and disruptions in management."