Even without budget, lawmakers race to finish spending bills – E&E News

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Geof Koss and George Cahlink, E&E News reporters

Sen. Tom Udall (D-N.M.), ranking member of the Senate Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, has concerns about moving forward with funding legislation without a bipartisan deal on spending caps. Anthony DeYoung/National Park Service/Flickr

Senate and House appropriators continue to press ahead with their fiscal 2018 spending bills, despite lacking a broad bipartisan deal that would allow them to eventually become law.

Sen. Tom Udall of New Mexico, the top Democrat on the Interior and Environment Appropriations Subcommittee, said yesterday he expects that panel to mark up its fiscal 2018 bill "in the next week or so."

"We're still having discussions and working together, and most of our hearings have been pretty good in terms of fleshing out the issues, and I feel there's a lot of bipartisanship there," he said.

However, the lack of a top-line spending number normally set in the budget resolution is hampering efforts.

The full Senate Appropriations Committee yesterday advanced the fiscal 2018 military construction and Veteran Affairs bill, typically one of the less controversial spending measures.

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Udall said drafters followed numbers set by the years-old Budget Control Act. Democrats unsuccessfully tried to increase the $88.9 billion measure by $1.6 billion, contingent on a new budget deal lifting spending caps in the coming weeks.

That agreement should include "parity" between defense and non-defense spending, Udall said. "That's how we negotiated last time," he said. "Eventually everybody came to the table and came up with a number."

Parity and the omission of contentious policy riders would again be the terms for a deal, Udall said. "We're sticking with those," he said.

While the fiscal 2017 Interior-Environment bill had a sizable number of riders, Democrats "were able to get them out for the omnibus," Udall noted.

"The best argument right now is, when you're dealing with an all-Republican Congress and all-Republican president, if they want to do things substantively they should do them in the authorizing committee and pass them," he said.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's (R-Ky.) decision to delay the start of the August recess for two weeks could help the appropriations process along, Udall said.

But if spending caps aren't determined "until well into August," that increases the likelihood of a continuing resolution to keep the government open in September, when the fiscal year ends.

"I'm not saying we're there yet, but the more you get backed up and don't have these numbers," the greater the odds are for a CR, Udall said.

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) said yesterday the House is "well ahead of schedule" for moving the spending bills with all 12 expected to be out of committee by next week (see related story). Ryan said he's now weighing options for moving them to the floor but did not offer a specific timeline.

A House leadership aide said it's possible some of the more bipartisan spending bills, covering the military and veterans, could be taken up before the chamber leaves for its summer break late this month.

Ryan said he's open to a bipartisan deal on spending with the Senate but suggested the House would adopt its own budget as a first step. The nonbinding plan sets overall spending for the year and usually is a prerequisite to appropriations bills moving to the floor.

"This is the classic legislative process. The House moves with its position, the Senate moves with theirs, and then we negotiate a compromise at the end of the day," said Ryan.

After weeks of delays, the House Budget Committee could mark up its fiscal 2018 budget resolution next week and then have it on the floor by the end of the month. Several markups have been postponed as conservatives have pressed for deeper cuts in mandatory spending and specifics on a future tax overhaul.

Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), chairman of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, said yesterday that $200 billion in mandatory cuts over 10 years in a draft House budget proposal might not be enough if there are large increases in discretionary spending. He also said any tax provisions should not include the border adjustment tax, which he said won't fly in the Senate and would create false savings (see related story).

The House GOP caucus is due to huddle this morning to weigh its budget options and could finalize plans for a markup.

Democrats in both chambers, meanwhile, were quick to tout a new assessment of the White House fiscal 2018 spending blueprint released yesterday by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. It found President Trump's plan would reduce the deficit but not balance in 10 years as the administration predicted.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) called on the GOP to work with Democrats to come up with an alternative. "Instead of following down the president's road to ruin, House Republicans should join Democrats to pass a budget that creates jobs and raises wages for working families across America," she said.

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Senate and House appropriators continue to press ahead with their fiscal 2018 spending bills, despite lacking a broad bipartisan deal that would allow them to eventually become law.

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Even without budget, lawmakers race to finish spending bills - E&E News