Nussle Approved as Budget Head, Faces Task of Completing FY 2008 Budget

In the Senate's first vote following the August recess, former Rep. Jim Nussle (R-IA) was confirmed as director of the Office and Management and Budget (OMB), 69-24, with all Republican senators voting in favor of Nussle and the Democrats split down the middle. Notably, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV), Appropriations Committee Chair Robert Byrd (D-WV), and Senate Budget Committee Chair Kent Conrad (D-ND) voted against the nominee. Nussle's approval sets up what is expected to be a bitter struggle to complete work on the FY 2008 budget during the fall. The struggle ahead centers on how much to spend in the FY 2008 appropriations and other bills. The Senate has a mere fourteen legislative days until the end of the 2007 fiscal year on Sept. 30 to pass ten of the twelve FY 2008 spending bills and then conference all twelve bills with the House. This is simply not enough time to finish the bills individually, particularly when the executive and legislative branches seem deadlocked over spending levels. Congress' budget resolution calls for $22 billion more in overall discretionary spending than the $933 billion the president has requested, drawing veto threats from President Bush. Additional struggles on fiscal policy are expected over extending farm subsidies, reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program, and renewing more than 40 expiring tax cuts. While there is a remote possibility Congress will pass all the appropriations bills before the current fiscal year ends, veto threats issued against nine of the bills put timely presidential approval in jeopardy. Congress and the president have held steadfastly to their positions, but private negotiations could yield a compromise. If a compromise cannot be achieved in the coming weeks, a continuing resolution or a multi-bill omnibus measure is almost assured. A number of advocacy groups came out against Nussle — including OMB Watch — taking the opportunity of his nomination to express hope the White House will adopt a less ideological, more flexible approach to budget-making with a Congress now controlled by Democrats. The OMB Watch statement also drew attention to OMB's regulatory responsibilities, encouraging Nussle to "lead an OMB respectful of agencies' scientific and technical expertise and to focus on providing adequate resources rather than additional analytical burdens." Despite Nussle's reputation as a fierce partisan during his years as chair of the House Budget Committee and his unwillingness during his committee confirmation hearings in July to specify a strategy for breaking the FY 2008 budget deadlock, little of the Senate floor debate on his nomination focused on him specifically. Conrad said though Nussle is "clearly qualified [my vote] was a question of what policy we pursue in the future." Conrad's floor vote was a surprise in view of his Budget Committee vote in favor of Nussle. Reid added, "Voting against confirming Congressman Jim Nussle as OMB Director will send a clear signal of my opposition to this [administration's] reckless fiscal policy." Some of the most vociferous opposition to Nussle came from freshman Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), who called Nussle a symbol of everything wrong with the president's domestic policies:
    Personally, I like Jim Nussle… My strong opposition to Jim Nussle becoming Director of OMB has much less to do with Mr. Nussle and much more to do with the current failed trickle-down economic policies of the Bush administration…. President Bush desperately needs a budget director … who is willing to compromise with a Democratic Congress for the benefit of all of the American people, not just large corporations, and the wealthy few. Unfortunately, I am afraid Jim Nussle is not that person.
A more restrained but equally solemn assessment was issued from the Senate's other independent member, Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Chair Joseph Lieberman (CT), who said although he would vote in favor of Nussle:
    I do so with the understanding that Congressman Nussle will have to exercise the full measure of his diplomatic skills at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue to help bring the FY 2008 budget and appropriations process to a satisfactory conclusion.
It remains to be seen whether Nussle, and the rest of the Bush administration, will be able to find compromise with Congress on the FY 2008 spending bills before the fiscal year begins on Oct. 1.
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