House chairman to propose appropriations overhaul

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., is proposing the most radical restructuring of the powerful panel in decades, including elimination of three subcommittees. The move, designed to streamline the annual appropriations process, is also likely to set off a power struggle among subcommittee "cardinals" trying to protect their fiefdoms.

House GOP leaders are generally in sync with the new chairman's proposed changes, but the plan might cause friction with the Senate. New Senate Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss., indicated Wednesday he is in no rush to make major changes.

While final decisions are pending, most observers agree that the House cardinal most likely to lose out is Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Ernest Istook, R-Okla., who has angered leadership at times.

The most significant alteration by Lewis would be elimination of the VA-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee, which has jurisdiction over NASA, a pet project of House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas. The District of Columbia Appropriations Subcommittee would be merged into the Interior Appropriations Subcommittee, while the Legislative Branch Appropriations Subcommittee would be eliminated, with its projects handled by the full committee. The Interior panel would also assume jurisdiction of Environmental Protection Agency appropriations.

The VA-HUD measure has become the most nettlesome of the 13 spending bills. It was the only bill the House could not pass last year, and DeLay had to intervene during final omnibus negotiations to secure more NASA funds without cutting veterans' or other spending.

DeLay had submitted an even more radical plan, which in addition to eliminating three subcommittees would also dramatically alter jurisdictions of the remaining panels. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., has also been closely involved with the process, and with DeLay, convinced Lewis to take a more aggressive stance.

Under Lewis' plan, NASA would no longer have to compete for money with veterans' health care, for example, and would be funded as part of the Energy and Water spending bill, as would the National Science Foundation.

"I think he's doing a fantastic job," DeLay said Wednesday, although he would not comment on details of Lewis' plans.

Veterans' programs would shift to the Military Construction appropriations bill, another big winner under Lewis' proposal. The measure would also draw defense health accounts from the massive Defense spending bill, which accounts for nearly half of all discretionary spending. HUD programs would fall under the Transportation-Treasury appropriations bill.

The big question is how far such changes will go in the Senate. "I think we can improve the efficiency of the appropriations process," Cochran said Wednesday. But, he added, he had no timetable for a decision and would need to have further discussions with senators.

Lewis and GOP leaders want to move quickly, with a massive fiscal 2005 supplemental spending bill and President Bush's 2006 budget due in early February. By reducing the number of spending bills to 10, Lewis could move appropriations through the House for Senate consideration and conferencing much earlier, in hopes of avoiding an omnibus bill and possibly completing work before the fiscal year ends Sept. 30.

House sources said the plan is to proceed with the changes even if the Senate does not agree. But that might risk complicating already difficult conference negotiations by requiring different subcommittees meeting to reconcile bills.

A similar one-chamber change happened at the start of the 108th Congress, when the House created a new Homeland Security Subcommittee over Senate objections, and the Senate was cajoled into going along. Lewis' restructuring plan, however, would be on a much grander scale.

Once the reorganization plan is finalized, Lewis and GOP leaders will decide on a slate of cardinals to run the revamped House subcommittees. While Istook's ouster is not certain, his gavel could go to former VA-HUD Subcommittee Chairman James Walsh, R-N.Y. Walsh would have to step down from his current post because of term limits, and he has more seniority than Istook.