Wednesday, October 17, 2007: First Impressions of the Labor, HHS, & Education Spending Bill '08

[16:34]
The Senate continues to work on spending legislation for FY 2008 as it begins to debate an appropriations bill covering the Departments of Labor, Health & Human Services, and Education.

Tom Harkin (IA) chairs the respective committee so he is managing the floor action.

The bill exceeds the President's budget request by $11b. In other words, when the President submitted his budget to Congress, its sum total in dollars was $11b less than the Senate's proposed budget covering the same departments.

The Senate's bill increases overall spending in these areas by $7b over last year's figures. This means that the President's budget represents a $4b budget cut for these departments compared to last year's spending.

Harkin reiterates that the bill adheres to Congress's pay-go budget restrictions. In other words, he says that the bill is paid for. I don't know that this is necessarily true. My understanding of pay-go is that if Congress is going to increase spending in one area it will take spending away from another area or it will find new revenue to cover the new spending. That's all well and good. However, if you observe that the country runs a deficit, it is not correct to say that the bill is "paid for." All you are really saying is that the bill isn't going to add to the deficit. It is possible that new revenue could cover the new spending but as far as I know, there has not been a dramatic uptick in revenue.

Anyway, President Bush has already threatened to veto Congress's version of this bill.

Note that the Senate version of the bill will be altered through the upcoming process of amendment. It will then be altered further during a process known as conferencing where House and Senate versions of the spending bill are reconciled. So, right now the Senate version of the bill exceeds Bush's budget request by $11b; that figure could rise or fall depending on what happens in the week ahead.

The Senate and the President disagree on the following items, among others. The National Institutes of Health. Bush's request is $279m lower than the Senate. Head Start. The President's request is significantly lower than the Senate's. Pell grants. The President's max grant is $4500 while the Senate goes to $4800. Job training. Senate would add $4.8b to the program while the President would pare $1b from it.

This spending bill is the sixth of twelve that are supposed to be passed every year. Last year, I believe only one of twelve was passed.