Labor-HHS spending bill might be next in clash with White House

House and Senate Democrats are considering making the Labor-Health and Human Services Appropriations bill the next major domestic policy fight with President Bush after the debate over children's health insurance.

None of the 12 fiscal 2008 spending bills have been signed into law, and the Senate has not even taken up the $150 billion health, education and social services bill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., plans to bring it up as early as Oct. 15, and sources said upon passage, House-Senate negotiators could quickly reconcile their differences and send the measure to the White House for Bush's expected veto.

The tactic would be similar to the current standoff over the State Children's Health Insurance Program, which Democrats perceive as a political winner despite lacking the votes to override a veto.

"I think the president has to demonstrate and say why he's vetoing it ... They're taking a hard line on spending on everything except contractors in Iraq, and the war in Iraq and the war in Afghanistan. Anything goes there," said Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Tom Harkin, D-Iowa.

"The grand game here is: Let's see the president veto the bill and if he does, where is the support on an override [attempt]," said one lobbyist familiar with the discussions.

Bush says he will veto the Labor-HHS measure because it spends billions of dollars more than he wants; the House measure, at $11 billion above his request, fell several votes short of enough for a potential override.

The Senate version is roughly $9 billion above the request.

"It's going to be a challenge to get this done and through, but clearly the plan is to force the issue and force the choices," said Marcia Mabee, executive director of the Coalition for Health Funding, which represents advocacy groups like the Association of American Medical Colleges and American Public Health Association.

Sending Bush the Labor-HHS bill would "demonstrate to the American people what our priorities are as Democrats. The priorities are health and education, human services, making sure the [Low Income Home Energy Assistance] program has enough money, making sure Pell Grants go out, making sure we have funding for biomedical research, cancer research, that's a very high priority," Harkin said. "For the Republicans, it's not a very high priority, and that's why we're going to show that."

Leadership aides said Reid and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have discussed the option but have not made a final decision, in part because the Labor-HHS bill has to clear the Senate. That is shaping up to be at least a weeklong battle with contentious debate over stem-cell language, which Bush is likely to threaten a veto over, as well as funding priorities and earmarks.

One reason Reid has delayed the Labor-HHS measure thus far is because Republicans have threatened numerous amendments.

Debate on appropriations bills thus far has been cordial, but a Senate GOP aide said that will soon change. "It's been a verbal and philosophical fight so far, but the war of amendments is starting" once the Labor-HHS measure comes up, the aide said.

The aide added that Democrats would pay a political price if they "hold hostage" spending for veterans' programs and the Iraq war by delaying final passage of those bills in favor of their domestic priorities.

Harkin acknowledged that his stem-cell rider could cost votes on the floor.

Nebraska Democratic Sen. Ben Nelson voted against the measure in committee, for example. Harkin noted the House bill does not contain similar language, hinting it could be dropped in conference, and lobbyists said that could provide leverage to "trade" for higher spending.

Harkin said he has spoken with Reid about making the Labor-HHS bill the first fiscal 2008 spending measure to be sent to Bush.

"I don't have any commitments yet, but I think more and more he's hearing from people that this ought to be the first bill sent to the president," he said.

House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., who also chairs the Labor-HHS panel in his chamber, feels the same way, Harkin said.

The Labor-HHS bill represents roughly half of the $23 billion in overall spending increases above Bush's request.

That is 9.5 percent more than last year's budget, whereas Bush requested about 6.9 percent more. The administration says anything above that level is "excessive."

By contrast, House Budget Committee Democratic staff director Tom Kahn estimated that Bush and the GOP Congress "wiped out a $5.6 trillion projected surplus and added more to the national debt in six years than every president from George Washington to Ronald Reagan."

A Reid spokesman said Democrats are not looking for a fight on spending.

"I am not sure if the president is trying to change the subject from Iraq or just spoiling for a fight to score political points with his base, but this is a fight that can be avoided," he said.

On the other hand, a lobbyist said Democrats might be picking fights with Bush over domestic policies by default.

"Politically it's the only fight they have, because Democrats right now are incapable of having a coherent Iraq strategy," he said.

In the meantime, Senate Democrats this week will debate the fiscal 2008 base Pentagon budget, minus war-funding, as well as the Commerce-Justice-Science bill, in which Democrats will highlight increased funding for law-enforcement that Bush proposed to cut.