Spending bills ready for floor with auto dealers' provision
Panel sets ground rules for House consideration of Energy and Water and Financial Services appropriations measures.
House Rules Committee members Tuesday approved rules for two more fiscal 2010 appropriations bills, but only the $33.3 billion Energy and Water spending bill will be on the floor Wednesday.
Also approved was a rule for the $24.1 billion fiscal 2010 Financial Services appropriations bill, with a provision to restore dealer franchise agreements terminated by General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC. But that bill is not on Wednesday's House schedule.
Both are structured rules, as Democrats did not accept Minority Whip Eric Cantor's written offer to limit GOP amendments to 20 per bill with time limitations on each.
The Energy and Water bill provides $26.9 billion for the Energy Department, an $86 million increase over the agency's current fiscal year funding. Overall, the bill is $100 million more than the fiscal 2009 amount.
The measure restores the Next Generation Nuclear Plant program, which will receive $245 million, and provides $71 million to complete the agency's obligation to the Nuclear Power 2010 program.
It also provides $5.5 billion for the Army Corps of Engineers, which is $416 million over the budget request and $138.6 million above last year.
The House will consider up to 31 amendments to the bill, such as a proposal from Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., to provide $7 million for the Chesapeake Bay Oyster Restoration program run by the Corps of Engineers to enhance water quality and fisheries productivity in the bay. It would be offset by a reduction in funding for the Naval Petroleum and Oil Shale Reserves.
Rep. John Campbell, R-Calif., will seek to eliminate earmarks from the measure, with the option of targeting $1 million for the Institute for Environmental Stewardship, $1 million for the Housatonic River Net-Zero Energy Building or $500,000 for the South Jersey Wind Turbines project.
The rule for the Financial Services bill protects the dealers' provision from a point of order, to which it would have been subject because it legislates in an appropriations bill -- a violation of House rules.
The Rules Committee's decision came after House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., Tuesday appeared with dealers from several states in support of that language and separate stand-alone dealers' legislation.
Closure of the dealerships as a result of bankruptcy and automaker termination would lead to nearly 170,000 lost jobs, almost 4,000 in Hoyer's home state of Maryland. The provision is supported by Appropriations Chairman David Obey, D-Wis.
The House will consider up to 17 amendments to the Financial Services bill, including a proposal from Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., to reduce funding in the bill by 5 percent.
Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., will try to strike several projects from the bill, including $100,000 for the small-business incubator project of the University of West Georgia in Carrollton, Ga.; $200,000 for the Commercial Driver Training Institute project of Arkansas State University in Newport, Ark.; and $285,000 for the Proof of Concept Center of Idaho TechConnect, Inc., in Nampa, Idaho.
Republicans sought to have several other amendments considered, such as a proposal sponsored by Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and several others to expand the D.C. school voucher program and another from Republican Conference Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana that would ban the FCC from using funds in the bill to reinstitute the Fairness Doctrine, or any similar rule that required broadcasters to air opposing viewpoints.
The $24.1 billion Financial Services bill is $1.6 billion more than the fiscal 2009 bill and includes $5.5 billion for IRS tax enforcement and $1.03 billion for the SEC. The bill eliminates a prohibition on use of local tax funds for abortion.