WAR SUPPLEMENTAL FUNDING FAILS IN HOUSE;
DOMESTIC SPENDING PASSES
Work on the war supplemental appropriations bill took an unusual turn last week. The bill, as it was to be considered on the House floor, was broken into three segments: war funding, war policy language, and domestic spending items.
In a highly-unusual turn, the war funding portion was defeated on a 141-149 vote made possible when 132 members (mostly Republican) voted “present”. Surprisingly, elements in both parties claimed this defeat as a victory. Anti-war Democrats claimed a victory for having defeated the funding mechanism for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan; some Republicans claimed a victory for defeating the strategy of House Leaders to bring the bill to the floor without first going through a Committee mark-up.
The amendment on war policy language was adopted on a 227-196 vote. The provision calls for a December 31, 2009 goal for combat troops to be withdrawn from Iraq.
The domestic spending amendment was
adopted on a 256-166 vote. The amendment includes expanded GI
Bill education benefits, extended unemployment benefits, and
suspends seven Medicaid regulations from being implemented.
The GI Bill education benefits were offset with a new surtax on
millionaire taxpayers.
SENATE TO DEBATE OWN VERSION OF WAR SUPPLEMENTAL BILL
The Senate’s version of the supplemental was marked-up by the Appropriations Committee. The Appropriations Committee version starts with the House bill and expands it.
During the mark-up, the Committee adopted more than 20 amendments on various, unrelated issues. Among the amendments added were: $1 billion for LIHEAP, $300 million in extra aid to Jordan, $100 million to fight drug crimes along the Southwestern border, and $50 million to track unregistered sex offenders. The Committee also adopted three immigration amendments.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) intends to start the debate using the House bill in its three segments. Senators are expected to offer amendments to the underlying bill, one of which could be the Appropriations Committee’s version of the bill as a substitute.
HOUSE TO CONSIDER MEASURE ON RENEWABLE ENERGY TAX CREDITS
This week, the House will consider a $57 billion tax extenders bill (H.R. 6049). The bill contains $19.6 billion in energy related tax credits.
Specifically, the production tax credit for wind is extended through 2009 and the credit for producing electricity from other sources (biomass and geothermal, and others) is extended through 2011.
The solar investment credit is extended for six years; $1.5 billion is included for clean coal and carbon sequestration projects. And, as mirrored in the farm bill, there is a new $1.01 per gallon credit for producing cellulosic biofuels.
The extenders bill (H.R. 6049) is offset by delaying a rule that allows multinational corporations to have flexibility in their accounting of interest costs, and by preventing hedge fund managers from deferring compensation by using offshore practices. Because of these two sizeable offsets used, the renewable energy tax credits were not paid for by repealing tax credits used by the oil and gas industry.
The Senate Finance Committee is expected to mark-up their version of the extenders bill after the Memorial Day recess.
FARM BILL PASSES BOTH CHAMBERS WITH VETO-PROOF MARGIN
The completed farm bill has been sent to the President. The House and Senate passed the conference report by veto-proof margins this week. The House vote was 318-106; the Senate vote was 81-15.
Since the President could make good on his veto threat, Congress has passed another one-week extension of current law to accommodate the potential veto and the additional votes that will be needed to override.
2009 BUDGET DISCUSSIONS NEARING COMPLETION IN HOUSE AND SENATE
Negotiations on the FY 2009 budget blueprint progressed last week when both the House and Senate officially appointed its conferees. The conferees are expected to meet this week to complete work on the conference report. If all goes well it could be on the floor in both chambers by the end of this week.
Another big item was the Treasury Department announcement that the debt limit needs to be raised before the end of the year. The debt ceiling was last raised by Congress in September 2007 and is now capped at $9.815 trillion. The sagging economy and lower than expected tax revenue was the rationale given.
WATER CONSERVATION LEGISLATION MOVES OUT OF COMMITTEE
Last week, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved three bills addressing water conservation efforts. All three were adopted by voice vote.
H.R. 2452 would require sewage treatment plants to establish an alert system so that the public could be notified within 24 hours of a sewage overflow.
H.R. 5770 would require a joint study by the National Academy of Sciences and the EPA to study the impact of climate change on water resources.
Lastly, H.R. 135 would establish a national 11-member water commission which would be assigned to make recommendations on water policies.
