Republicans Keep Obstructing Common-Sense Investment Initiatives

Over the past few months, an intransigent president and a conservative coalition in Congress have waylaid a host of common-sense, progressive spending initiatives, including the reauthorization of the nutrition section of the Farm Bill, the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), and funding for domestic priorities in the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS), and Education. Conservative Republicans Barely Sustain President's Labor/HHS Veto The House and Senate agreed to a $150.7 billion appropriations bill for the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, which includes funding for programs like Head Start, the National Institutes of Health, and energy assistance for low-income families (see this Center on Budget and Policy Priorities paper for more on what's in the bill). But the president vetoed that bill on Nov. 13. The House then attempted to override the president's veto but failed by a margin of 277-141, only five votes short of success. Democratic leadership has since offered to cut $11 billion out of all of the appropriations bills — about half of the difference between their entire spending proposal and the president's. Under this plan, programs funded in the Labor/HHS bill would take sizable cuts. Specifics about how the cuts would be distributed across specific programs have not been announced. House Republicans and the president have told the media they rejected this compromise and demanded that all budget bills meet the president's requests. It is unclear how effective they will be in keeping moderate House Republicans from accepting that compromise or any other offered by the Democrats. But Republican leaders have had success so far in rejecting anything but the president's budget requests, which call for even deeper cuts to human needs programs and public investments, while drastically increasing funding for the Department of Defense and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. As the budget conflict continues, more continuing resolutions (CRs), which temporarily fund government services at the previous year's levels, may be necessary. The current CR will last through Dec. 14 and has already been extended once since the beginning of the fiscal year on Oct. 1. The current CR was passed as an amendment to the $459.3 billion Defense appropriations bill. The president signed that bill on Nov. 16. Senate Republicans Obstruct Farm Bill The House-passed 2008 farm bill contains a small but important $4.2 billion increase for nutrition programs like Food Stamps over the next five years. These increases are especially important in light of reports that food insecurity continues to rise, while food banks across the country are experiencing shortages of food supplies to give to people struggling with hunger. Perhaps realizing the significant need across the country, the president has issued a somewhat muted veto threat against the farm bill. While the House has passed its version of the farm bill, the Senate has had more difficulty, as Senate Republicans filibustered the first proposal on Nov. 16 (roll call). The Food Research and Action Center has predicted if the Senate does not pass a bill, the funding increases for nutrition programs will be wiped away, perhaps causing cutbacks in these important supports. SCHIP Negotiations Going Nowhere Since House Republicans sustained the president's veto of the $35 billion SCHIP reauthorization bill on Oct. 25, bicameral and bipartisan negotiations have been taking place to craft a bill that would receive veto-proof support. Despite strong support for reauthorizing and expanding SCHIP, no agreement has been reached. Indeed, chances of reaching an agreement appear to decrease by the day. Conservatives were asking for restrictive changes, particularly regarding immigrants and minority participation in the program, that many minority Democrats have strenuously objected to. If no agreement is reached, the SCHIP program will continue under a temporary extension. But the net result of the House Republicans' vote to sustain the president's veto will be to deny health insurance to the four million uninsured children who would have received it had the bill been passed into law.
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