Monday, October 22, 2007: More work on Labor, HHS, & Education Spending '08

[20:20]
The Senate has adjourned. It will return to business tomorrow at 10:00. At that time, expect a series of votes on amendments to the Labor, HHS, and Education Spending Bill FY 2008. A vote on final passage of that bill likely will come mid-afternoon. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill because it exceeds his budget request by $9b.

Emily Pierce of Roll Call reported that the Democrats in Congress fully expect Bush to veto the bill but are offering it nonetheless to set the groundwork for eventual passage of it and other spending bills through a process of negotiation. Pierce also suggested that Democrats could end up packaging a bundle of spending bills together for presentment to the present in a year-end omnibus spending bill "guns-a-blazing."

[19:26]
CSPAN-2 is re-airing some comments from Harry Reid (NV) from this morning. The White House has upped the total amount of the Iraq/Afghanistan supplemental funding bill for FY 2008. It will now be in the amount of $196b. This is a raise of $46b over what the White House had previously indicated it would ask for (the figure usd to be $145b). He is comparing the Iraq War funding with the S-CHIP bill, which Bush vetoed. He says that the Iraq War is paid for with debt and then a supplemental. S-CHIP was paid for under the terms of the legislation, he says.

Reid is making clear that the Senate is going to fight this supplemental request. The war has already cost the U.S. $750b, says Reid, most of that borrowed from other countries. He says the the senators will fight for a change in strategy.

[18:57]
Harkin (IA) has just announced that there won't be any more votes tonight. However, votes are likely to start hot and heavy tomorrow morning at 10 eastern. He says that if you've got an amendment that you want considered, you'd better get it in tonight. The Senate is now in a quorum call.

[18:38]
Barbara Boxer (CA) is talking about the fires that are raging in her state. She says that her state is in a fight right now to save homes, businesses, and lives. The fires have blossomed under a mixture of high temps, very dry air, and Santa Ana winds. The Santa Ana wind is a strong, hot, dry wind that blows in winter from the deserts of southern California toward the Pacific Coast. The fires have damaged areas in Malibu and threatened parts of San Diego County. She says that the state and the federal gov't must work closely to keep the fires from advancing. She said that she has already gotten help from FEMA. She did not say anything about money aid but it seemed she just wanted to get word out about what is happening. She has no doubt that President Bush will declare a national emergency for the area, which opens up federal funding conduits.

[18:28]
The Senate has just voted to accept a Menendez (NJ) amendment 89-3. Harkin says that there could be more votes night, but he's just not sure. He is clearing some amendments that have been agreed to by both sides.

[16:36]
The Senate is an a quorum call. C-SPAN2 is playing some classical music with a lot of French horns in it. I have heard it on CSPAN-2 before.

Anyway, the pending business before the Senate is the FY 2008 Labor, HHS, and Education spending bill. The Senate bill is in the amount of $607b. This makes it the largest domestic spending bill, larger even than FY 2008 Defense ($463b). Of the $608b, $455.4 is being budgeted for mandatory programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. The rest, or $151.6b, is discretionary spending, i.e. the money is being earmarked. The mandatory programs are just that—mandatory; they must be funded. For the mandatory spending in this bill to approach the total amount of the Defense Bill is astounding. Of course, the defense bill does not include the $180b in supplemental funding that DOD Secretary Gates will ask Congress for later this year for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But, hey, with $455.4b in spending on mandatory programs such as Medicare and Medicaid, who says we don't already have socialized medicine in the U.S.?

Bush has threatened to veto this bill as is because it exceeds his budget request.

[15:31]
Tom Harkin (IA) is talking about when the Labor, HHS, and Education bill will get done. Noon tomorrow is the goal. HHS stands for Health and Human Services. Harkin is the chairman of the Labor, HHS, and Education committee. He is managing the bill on the floor along with Arlen Specter (PA), the ranking member.

Harkin says that there will be votes tonight unless the two sides can agree to amendments and clear them by a unanimous consent agreement. Any one senator can hold up a unanimous consent agreement.

There will be some votes tonight, says Specter, starting at 17:30. He says he knows that the Senate doesn't usually vote on Monday evenings but that the bill won't get done by noon tomorrow unless the amendments are cleared or the senators start voting tonight.