GOP earmark ban could pose problems for omnibus

Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, said Tuesday that he could have a fiscal 2011 omnibus spending package ready to take to the floor in 24 hours, but he acknowledged that Republican plans for a moratorium on earmarks could make the bill more difficult to pass.

"I am hoping we have an omnibus," Inouye said after a Democratic Caucus meeting this morning. "We can have it ready in 24 hours."

Congress needs to pass a catch-all spending bill to keep the government running after December 3, when the current temporary continuing resolution expires. The so-called omnibus bill is necessary because Congress failed to pass any of the 12 annual spending bills that normally fund the government. In order to provide additional time to finish fiscal 2011 appropriations, Congress passed a temporary measure just before the last fiscal year ended on September 30.

Democrats hope to pass an omnibus bill during the lame-duck session, but the prospects are uncertain because Senate Republicans are expected to embrace a self-imposed two-year earmark ban. Earmarks would likely have been used to win Republican support for the package, and Democrats need a handful of Republican votes in order to overcome any possible filibusters.

Asked if the Republican earmark ban could slow the appropriations process next year, Inouye said, "At this stage I would hate to make any predictions."

Inouye noted that the omnibus was likely to provide $1.108 trillion in discretionary spending, the same cap that Senate Republicans pushed for earlier this year. But he said the cap could be lower because details are still being negotiated.

In lieu of an omnibus, appropriators would also have the option of extending the continuing resolution, possibly for the rest of the fiscal year.

Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., who is helping lead the charge on the GOP earmark ban, said he would prefer a longer-term extension of the CR.

"Now it would help us to do a longer-term [CR], and then we would be on our own schedule as to when to replace it," DeMint said.

He said Republicans intend to push Democrats to also take up an earmark ban.

"We will make it an issue, and the president should too," DeMint said. "We are asking the president to make a commitment that he will veto any bill that has earmarks in it. It is something we supported when he was in the Senate."

Obama on Monday praised Senate Republicans for taking on the issue.

Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., plans to force a vote on banning earmarks for any legislation that moves during the lame-duck session and the next Congress. That vote could come as early as Wednesday.

"We have momentum on the issue, and I think we need to force the Democrats to make the same hard decisions right now," DeMint said.

DeMint brushed off questions about three senior GOP senators who have so far declined to say they would honor the ban.

"We can deal with that later," DeMint said. "I think right now there is a lot of agreement in our conference that this is the right way to go, that the time has come, even if people maybe disagree philosophically on some aspect of it. Americans expect us to stop this."

The GOP earmark ban has exposed fissures within the Democratic caucus as well, with Sens. Claire McCaskill, D-Mo., and Mark Udall, D-Colo., both signaling they would support a Democratic ban.

But, at the moment, it is unlikely that Senate Democrats would back an earmark moratorium, according to Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.

"Anything is possible around here, but I think it's unlikely," he said.