Among the more egregious failings of the Budget Control Act (BCA)—the proxy fiscal plan spawned by the summer’s debt ceiling debate—are a pair of gaping loopholes allowing Congress effectively to blow through the agreement’s advertised spending limit. The Senate has already begun to exploit one of these openings. The House should not let it happen. Loophole No. 1, little noticed when the BCA was enacted, is called “disaster relief.” It allows Congress to “adjust” the BCA’s $1.043 trillion discretionary spending cap for fiscal year (FY) 2012—that is, to simply raise …
The Heritage Foundation yesterday launched its fiscal year (FY) 2012 Appropriations Tracker, which monitors the progress of appropriations bills as they move through the House and Senate. The tracker will be updated regularly to reflect the most recent status of these discretionary spending bills as they progress through each chamber. Appropriators are aiming to meet the $1.043 trillion limit established under the Budget Control Act (BCA), the product of last summer’s debt ceiling negotiations. (The BCA does not specify amounts for individual appropriations bills.) Because this spending target is disturbingly …
Yesterday, I wrote about the House-passed bill H.R. 2887, which would reauthorize expiring aviation and surface transportation programs for a few months. Senator Tom Coburn (R–OK) is expected to offer an amendment to remove a mandate that forces states to waste 10 percent of all Federal Highway Administration money on something called Transportation Enhancements (TE). TE is a program run by the Department of Transportation to force states to build bike paths, “highway beautification,” and transportation museums. From my blog post: In the past, federal funds have been used by …
The American military is engaged in multiple conflicts and humanitarian missions around the world, yet President Obama promised to veto legislation funding the troops for the remainder of 2011. This is a reprehensible political stunt, and it comes at the expense of our servicemen and women and the families they support. Yesterday, as efforts to resolve the debate on 2011 government funding continued, House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) introduced yet another temporary bill designed to keep the government operating for one more week during negotiations, and in this case, ensure …
Heritage Distinguished Fellow and former Congressman Ernest Istook (R–OK) recently unveiled Obamacare’s “dirty little secret”: $105 billion of advance appropriations which make it difficult for current and future Congresses to control spending on the unpopular new law. The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health delved further into the problems with this “phantom funding” at a hearing last week. Within its 2,700 pages, Obamacare has been given billions of dollars in advance appropriations—$6 billion was immediately appropriated, while over $105 billion was appropriated for the years following. In this way, …
Today, the House of Representatives passed the $32.2 billion Interior-Environment Appropriations conference report, including a continuing resolution to fund the remaining portions of the federal government at FY2009 levels until December 18th. This bill, a 17 percent increase over last years levels, represents Congress’s continued disregard for mounting federal debt and deficits. At a time when the President’s own budget projection sees federal deficits topping $1 trillion through 2011, and the White House budget is set to send publicly held debt to 99 percent of GDP by 2019, now should …
Senate Analysis – This week, the Senate will continue work on more over-due appropriations bills. On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee is expected to vote on its health care reform concept. Of course, the real work will continue behind closed doors where Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) and members of the Obama administration continue to craft the bill that will be debated on the Senate floor. Major Senate Floor Action – The Senate is poised to complete work on the Commerce, Justice and Science Appropriations bill. Several appropriations conferences …
Politico reports: Congress is on the verge of giving itself a bump in its annual budget — even as local governments, families and businesses across the country are tightening their belts in the worst recession in decades. Under a House-Senate conference measure, approved by the House last week and poised for passage in the Senate on Wednesday, spending for the legislative branch will increase 5.8 percent this year, boosting Capitol Hill’s annual budget to $4.7 billion. As terrible as it is that Congress wants to increase their own budgets while …
Is the House of Representatives trying to start a trade war in the midst of the worst economy in a generation? Sure seems that way. When the House passed the Energy and Water appropriations bill they included a protectionist provision that is not only misguided, but it is poorly applied. The law states: “None of the funds made available in this Act may be used to purchase passenger motor vehicles other than those manufactured by Ford, General Motors, or Chrysler.” Not only does this bill ban foreign competition, but it …
The FY10 Labor-HHS Appropriations bill heads to the House floor today. The Appropriations Committee approved this annual spending bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education last week. While the appropriation includes funds for programs to “help at-risk women and teens bear healthy children,” it eliminates funding for abstinence education and conspicuously disavows the very means to ensure that teens will not become pregnant in the first place. Removal of abstinence-only education funding was not entirely unexpected after Congress let the only other source of abstinence …
