House Appropriations chair floats cutting earmarks further

House Appropriations Chairman David Obey, D-Wisc., is proposing to cut earmarks in the remaining 11 fiscal 2008 spending bills by another 50 percent -- on top of a bicameral agreement to reduce spending on local projects by 40 percent from two years ago.

But Senate Democrats are balking, and even House Appropriations subcommittee chairmen were taken by surprise, according to aides and lobbyists. The issue could threaten the timetable for completing work on the bills; House subcommittees are under instructions to wrap up most issues by Wednesday. After that, anything unresolved is to be brokered by the panel's front office, with a goal of completing the individual bills by early the following week.

The continuing resolution expires Dec. 14, and Democratic leaders are aiming to send to President Bush the remaining bills before then, either as an omnibus package or a collection of smaller measures.

Appropriators are in the process of cutting $11 billion from the bills to meet a revised $944 billion overall target. That is still $11 billion more than Bush wants, and Obey has been warning for weeks that members' projects are at risk as leaders try to reduce spending. But observers said the proposal to reduce earmarks came sooner than expected, before Democrats have even tested GOP willingness to compromise.

"If anything, it hurts their cause because at the end of the day members care more about their projects" than program funding, a source said.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said before Thanksgiving that "tremendously difficult cuts" will be necessary to split the difference with Bush, and Obey might be calculating that members will have to share the pain. Reid and Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., have sent word they are not on board with more earmark cuts.

Senators already compromised by agreeing to reduce earmarks by 40 percent from two years ago and are not about to cut the lower figure in half, aides said. A Byrd spokesman declined comment, but noted that senators are committed to "substantial reductions" in earmarks from the levels when Republicans were in control.

Obey's staff could not be reached for comment. But sources said he "is tired of being beat up" by Republicans and wanted to make further earmark cuts to blunt the attacks. But some of Obey's own top lieutenants have registered concern with the proposal.

House Interior-Environment Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman Norman Dicks, D-Wash., is wary that if House members are forced to trim earmarks by another 50 percent, senators would not follow suit, shortchanging the House side, an aide said.