House set to consider long-term spending measure next week

House Democratic leaders will take up the yearlong continuing resolution encompassing nine unfinished fiscal 2007 spending bills next Wednesday, aiming to give the Senate plenty of time to act before bumping up against the Feb. 15 expiration of the existing resolution.

The goal is to have a "pre-conference" agreement between House and Senate negotiators that would avoid amendments and preclude the need for another short-term continuing resolution.

"We are working closely with the Senate," House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said on the floor. "The Senate has a very difficult challenge."

The Senate will take up the resolution the week of Feb. 5, which coincides with the release of President Bush's budget for the next fiscal year.

The Republican-led Congress last year completed only the Defense and Homeland Security appropriations bills, and Democrats are planning to fund all other agencies within the $463.5 billion left under the GOP budget cap.

The vast scope of the bill ensures that it will not be the relatively simple funding extension marked by previous continuing resolutions. Budget watchdogs such as Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., will undoubtedly want ample time to examine the bill before voting.

In the House, where the rules are tightly controlled, Hoyer indicated the resolution will most likely be taken up without the opportunity for amendments. Most appropriations bills are considered under an open rule, but Hoyer said continuing resolutions -- particularly one of this size -- generally require expedited procedures.

"Frankly, to get through nine different bills on the House floor ... if that bill were open to amendments ... that will probably be something that we won't be able to do," Hoyer said in response to a question from Minority Whip Roy Blunt, R-Mo.

Hoyer said the bill will be mostly free of earmarks, with the exception of some that have critical applications to the operations of government. There are also likely to be funding increases and policy changes "for programs that will be very adversely impacted" by simply extending funding at current levels for the whole year or endorsing cuts contained in the GOP-written fiscal 2007 bills.

Appropriations Committee Democrats are circulating a report documenting the impact if the new CR is not adopted.

"Endorsing the unfinished work of the 109th Congress jeopardizes American national security; it would result in thousands of layoffs in the public and private sectors; it would cut off health care for members of America's armed forces; and it close[s] the doors to health care for thousands of our veterans," the report states.

Health benefits for veterans and active-duty military face a combined $5 billion shortfall if their budgets are left frozen. The Social Security Administration needs a $180 million increase or it will be forced to temporarily furlough all employees. The Food Safety and Inspection Service would face a similar situation in September, while the Small Business Administration faces a more immediate problem -- its disaster loan program would shut down in late February.

The FBI would face a yearlong hiring freeze, Judiciary would have to fire 2,500 employees, Amtrak would have to eliminate routes; and 227,000 residents of low-income housing would be left homeless, displaced or forced into overcrowded conditions, the report said.

The report makes clear that given limited resources, it will be difficult to meet all the demands. "Make no mistake, this legislative package will not solve all of the problems facing the nation, but it will take steps toward addressing some of the most significant challenges ahead of us," it states.