Federal Budget Update

December 17, 2007

Omnibus 2008, a moral statement?

Congress postponed votes on the Omnibus spending bill last week, and have now scheduled votes beginning as early as Tuesday evening, Dec. 18th. 

President Bush, and his budget director Jim Nussel, informed congress that an omnibus bill funding anything above the President’s level would be vetoed. 

Congressional appropriations committee members re-worked spending levels for programs within the eleven appropriations bills.  Total spending would come very close to the President’s request.  The House is making every effort to protect funds for programs which meet basic human needs.  Although below what either the House of the Senate had previously approved, some programs would receive more than they did through the 2007 continuing resolution.

Once the House has voted, the Senate will take up the bill, likely further amending it. 

NETWORK does not support the omnibus bill for FY 2008.  However, we concede that this bill is superior to anything which might come from a continuing resolution.  The few gains which have been maintained, might well be lost.  Therefore, neither do we ask for you to work against this bill.

Representative Obey, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, has a statement of highlights of the new House appropriations bill.  http://appropriations.house.gov/pdf/FY08OmnibusSummary.pdf

December 12 , 2007

Fiscal Year 2008 began on October 1, 2007, but Congress has yet to pass a budget. Of the twelve appropriations bills, only Defense has been signed into law. The government is currently operating under a continuing resolution, which expires on December 14. Meanwhile, the remaining eleven appropriations bills are being rolled into an omnibus bill. Since there is much work to be done on contents of an omnibus bill, another continuing resolution must be developed this week in order to prevent a shutdown of government services, which last happened in 1995.

The House and the appropriations committee of the Senate have approved each of the appropriations bills, but the president made use of his veto power. Each version of an omnibus under discussion has received a veto threat because funding levels exceeded his original budget request. The most recent would split the difference between President Bush’s request and the budget approved by Congress. This proposal also contained funding for military operations in Afghanistan as a means of attracting additional votes from Republicans.

Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said of the veto threat, “that the president would request

• an 11 percent increase for the Department of Defense,
• a 12 percent increase for foreign aid, and
• $195 billion of emergency funding for the war, while asserting that
• a 4.7 percent increase for domestic programs is fiscally irresponsible.”

Early on December 11, Representative David Obey (D-WI), chair of the House Appropriations Committee, determined that a delay would be necessary to allow for further adaptations to get a bill passed with a veto-proof margin. Legislators are now working on an omnibus bill that meets President Bush’s budget request. Human needs appropriations funding would be somewhat protected by elimination of earmarks and cuts to selected programs, but efforts to reduce the budget by $22 billion is sure to affect these critical programs, which have already endured six consecutive years of cuts.

NETWORK continues to regard the federal budget as a moral document that demonstrates the priorities of the nation. We are called in our Constitution to “promote the general welfare”, and our faiths call us to care for all persons, with special concern for the most vulnerable among us.