Conference on Defense spending bill postponed

House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., postponed a motion to go to conference on a $453.3 billion fiscal 2006 Defense spending bill originally set for Wednesday, casting doubt about whether House-Senate conferees would be able to meet as scheduled Friday.

Hastert and GOP leaders are still developing their strategy for wrapping up the fiscal 2006 appropriations bills, while dealing with unpalatable items such as across-the-board cuts and rescissions. The Defense appropriations bill has emerged as a potential vehicle for those and other items, since lawmakers would be hard-pressed to vote against the military funding bill.

But the appropriations committees, nearing final agreement, are pushing House leadership to let the bill go through quickly. The measure contains $50 billion for overseas operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, and appropriators want to send it to the president's desk in time to avert what they say could be a mid-November funding shortfall.

With the Senate setting a brisker-than-usual pace in wrapping up work on all 11 spending bills last week, Hastert and GOP leaders have had less time than in recent years to plot endgame appropriations strategy, and leadership turmoil and dissension in the ranks over budget cuts and offsets for emergency spending have not helped matters.

One thing they agree on is that they would like to avoid a year-end omnibus package of several spending bills, where the White House's leverage is enhanced and there is more potential for controversial provisions to be slipped in without debate.

Other important bills remain to be completed, such as a $44.1 billion fiscal 2006 Military Quality of Life spending bill that carries veterans' healthcare funds, which could also serve as a vehicle for other items. The two most problematic spending bills have already emerged as candidates to carry must-do legislation.

A $65.9 billion Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill that would cut $518 million from last year and stretch Amtrak funds thin could carry supplemental funding for hurricane-ravaged areas. And emergency funds to combat a possible avian flu outbreak could be added to the nettlesome $142.5 billion Labor-HHS measure that has been cut by more than $1 billion from last year, after factoring in new Medicare drug benefit costs.

The House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday approved, 35-18, revised spending allocations that reflect an agreement with the Senate. Based on an $843 billion overall spending target, appropriators shifted $6.4 billion away from President Bush's defense and foreign aid requests, although the $4.4 billion Pentagon shift is more than made up through inclusion of the $50 billion in additional overseas war-fighting funds.

House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., cited the Labor-HHS bill's "very tough numbers" and said the bill would be "a big topic of discussion as we go forward but nonetheless reflects the will of the House."

Appropriations ranking member David Obey, D-Wis., called the measure "woefully inadequate" and noted "the cavalry ain't gonna be riding in" to save the bill, especially with across-the-board cuts on the horizon.