Lawmakers returning from bruising election battles will have little respite before they must confront another politically volatile issue — what to do about stalled fiscal 2011 appropriations.
The current stopgap spending measure expires Dec. 3, and Democrats will have to decide whether to press ahead with a more than $1 trillion omnibus spending package for the entire fiscal year that started Oct. 1.
Doing so would likely spark fierce resistance from fiscally conservative Republicans in both chambers, who are feeling emboldened after large GOP gains in the midterm elections and are eager to make good on their promises to slash spending when they take over the House and reduce Senate Democrats to a six-vote majority in January.
That suggests that Congress ultimately may opt for a longer-term continuing resolution to keep the government funded into next year, thus allowing incoming Republicans an early chance to shape federal spending.
If Democratic leaders opt for an omnibus, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., could likely move such a bill with relative ease. But winning enough support for the package in the Senate would be more difficult, where Republicans in the minority could throw up procedural roadblocks.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., would need to lend his support to the omnibus, which could cause friction with conservative members of his caucus. He already faces a revolt among conservatives demanding a moratorium on earmarks.
Democratic leaders will probably postpone a final decision on which way to go until contentious battles for their House leadership posts are resolved. Lawmakers are expected to pass another short-term stopgap spending measure during the lame-duck session as they plot a strategy.
Many Democrats who lost their seats on Nov. 2 may not be willing to stick around well into December to hammer out a final spending deal.
“We don’t see any way other than a CR to February,” said one veteran appropriations lobbyist.
That option has the support of many House Republicans, who have been pushing to scrap much of the previous appropriations work and develop a measure that would cut federal spending.
A fiscal 2011 omnibus that would provide almost $1.11 trillion, as is being considered now, would still be a small increase in spending from the roughly $1.09 trillion provided for the previous fiscal year.
“The wisest choice would be to do a CR and start over again,” said Jerry Lewis of California, the ranking Republican on the House Appropriations Committee. “That would be the best way to go about it.”
Appropriations staffers have been working for weeks to meet GOP demands to shrink the pending omnibus. Senate Republicans, including McConnell, have been arguing for a spending cap around $1.108 trillion, less than the $1.121 trillion and $1.114 trillion proposals made earlier by Democrats.
The $1.108 trillion level was proposed by Sens. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., and Claire McCaskill, R-Mo. Sessions and McCaskill, neither of whom is an appropriator, have made repeated attempts to cap federal spending at that level.
Earmarks Cut Both Ways
If Democrats advance an omnibus, earmarks in the measure could be a lure for the votes of some Republicans who have inserted the spending directives in fiscal 2011 appropriations bills.
The nonprofit group Taxpayers for Common Sense used the crop of spending bills that stalled before the recess to estimate that House lawmakers are seeking almost 3,000 earmarks worth $3 billion. Their Senate counterparts included more than 3,700 earmarks worth $6 billion.
But the earmarks are a double-edged sword politically, especially after an election that featured strong GOP attacks on federal spending. Looking to reclaim their mantle as fiscal conservatives, Republicans in both chambers are calling for an end to earmarks, seeing them as a distraction from broader efforts to bring federal spending in line with revenue and reduce annual deficits that have topped $1 trillion.
One clue to how Senate Republicans would react to a fiscal 2011 omnibus could come on Nov. 16, when deficit hawk Jim DeMint, R-S.C., plans to propose an earmark moratorium as Republicans meet to elect leaders and establish rules.
A strong showing in favor of DeMint’s proposal could complicate any effort to wrap up the fiscal 2011 spending bills.
McConnell has argued that surrendering earmarks would give presidents too much control over spending, but DeMint has won support for his anti-earmark bid from at least a half-dozen senators-elect and from some sitting members.
In the House, Republicans are considered likely to extend their current one-year moratorium on earmarks. Such a move has the backing of several GOP appropriators including Lewis, Harold Rogers of Kentucky, John Culberson of Texas, Tom Latham of Iowa and Jack Kingston of Georgia.
Kingston said he would prefer to see the fiscal 2011 appropriations wrapped up in a scaled-back omnibus, to which no controversial policy provisions would be attached.
There also are a number of retiring Republicans, particularly appropriators, who may want to see Congress finish its spending work.
George V. Voinovich, R-Ohio, an appropriator and a former governor and mayor of Cleveland, has been an outspoken critic of chronic delays in the appropriations process. He argues that they disrupt the government and can increase the cost of some government services.
When the government is operating under stopgap funding, many federal agencies cannot start new projects or make new hires.
But Kingston considers it unlikely that an omnibus can be completed during the lame-duck session, noting that the House and Senate didn’t even get as far this year as passing what would have been an in-house guide on spending for lawmakers, the fiscal 2011 budget resolution.
“Given that, I’m going to be really surprised if they can do an omnibus,” he said.
-- Kerry Young, CQ Staff
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