Reid Loath to Leave Town With Another CR
Roll Call Staff
When it comes to funding the government and the Iraq War, Congressional Democrats may have to make a proverbial deal with the devil in the next three weeks.
With President Bush ratcheting up his opposition to spending more than he has requested and agitating for Democrats to give him the “blank check” for Iraq that he so badly wants, the majority could find itself in the uncomfortable position of having to choose whether to provide additional domestic spending for health care, education and veterans or to stand firm against the president on the war.
Of course, the beginning of the end of a Congressional session often starts off with adamant refusals to budge at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue, and then ends with a great deal of movement on both sides.
And the current situation has plenty of unknowns: Are enough Republicans willing to override a presidential veto if Democrats cut out much of the additional spending? Will the president negotiate with Democrats on a compromise if they don’t give him the Iraq funding he wants? Will centrist Democrats support Iraq funding without troop pullout timelines? How much does the desire to leave town before Christmas Eve affect all of that?
For now, Democrats are mightily resisting the White House’s push to tie Iraq funds to keeping the government afloat for the next year.
“The White House is trying to link them,” said Jim Manley, spokesman for Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.). “But the last time I checked, they don’t have a vote up here.”
Still, it doesn’t appear that Democrats are going to be able to have their cake and eat it, too, given that House Republicans, and, to a lesser extent, Senate Republicans, are vowing to uphold any presidential vetoes on spending bills. Though some Republicans have indicated a willingness to back funding levels slightly higher than the president’s, few have advocated the Democrats’ proposal to exceed Bush’s budget by nearly $11 billion.
That creates the possibility that Democrats would have to either craft an omnibus appropriations bill that meets the president’s overall spending caps or pass a continuing resolution that keeps the government funded at current levels. They also could attempt an amalgamation of the two, funding some agencies through a CR and others through an omnibus.
First, however, Democrats say they will probably send Bush an omnibus that folds 11 annual spending bills into one, cuts their own budget by $11 billion, but still comes in $11 billion over the president’s $933 billion request. That’s something the president is very likely to veto. But a House Democratic aide warned that a second, post-veto omnibus at the president’s number would rip out Republican spending priorities.
“If we have to go too low, the Republicans aren’t getting anything,” the aide said. “The first thing that’s going to go is everything Republicans care about.”
Earmarks could also be on the chopping block. House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-Wis.) has repeatedly suggested slicing earmarks to spare domestic programs from a deeper budget axe.
“Obey is sick and tired of the Republican leadership demagoguing earmarks while all of the Republican Members are asking for earmarks,” the Democratic aide said. “If Republicans reject a compromise, he’s likely to advocate to just get rid of all of them.”
The other, less palatable option for Democrats is to dump their insistence on tying troop- withdrawal dates to the $50 billion “bridge” funding for Iraq in exchange for the White House’s acquiescence on additional domestic spending. That’s a deal that’s already been made once this Congress, when Bush signed a supplemental war-funding bill that included nearly $17 billion in “emergency” domestic spending.
But considering Democrats took a fair amount of heat from their liberal base this spring for making that war deal, both Reid and Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) appear loath to poke that tiger again.
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