WASHINGTON — The spending barons on Capitol Hill, long used to muscling past opponents of bills larded with pet projects, are seeking one last victory before Tea Party-backed GOP insurgents storm Congress intent on ending the good old days of pork-barrel politics.
You might call it the last running of the old bulls in Congress.
In the waning days of the lame-duck congressional session, Democrats controlling the Senate — in collaboration with a handful of old-school Republicans — are pushing to wrap more than $1.2 trillion worth of unfinished budget work into a single “omnibus” appropriations bill.
Their 1,900-plus-page bill comes to the floor this week stuffed with provisions sought by lawmakers. It contains thousands of pet projects, known as earmarks, pushed by Democratic and GOP senators alike — despite a pledge by Republicans to give up such projects next year.
“That omnibus bill will be loaded down with earmarks and pork-barrel spending, which is a direct — a direct — betrayal of the majority of voters on Nov. 2, who said, ‘Stop the earmarking, stop the spending, stop the pork barrel projects,’ ” protested Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz.
The catchall bill is designed to bankroll the operations of every Cabinet agency for the budget year that started Oct. 1, as well as $158 billion to pay for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.
It also challenges President Barack Obama. One administration-opposed provision would block the Pentagon from transferring Guantanamo Bay prisoners to the United States. Another would provide $450 million for a program to develop a second engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter despite a veto threat by the administration, which says it’s a waste of money.
The architect of the measure, Senate Appropriations Committee chairman Daniel Inouye, D-Hawaii, has been working with senior Republicans on the panel — Thad Cochran of Mississippi, Robert Bennett of Utah and Christopher Bond of Missouri — to line up the 60 votes needed to repel a filibuster promised by GOP Sen. Jim DeMint of South Carolina and other conservatives.
“We remain cautiously optimistic,” said Inouye spokesman Rob Blumenthal.
House bill cheaper
Inouye’s measure would replace a slightly less expensive bill the House passed last week. The House bill doesn’t contain earmarks such as road and farm research projects, water treatment plants and grants for local anti-drug campaigns.
House Democrats, however, would gladly accept the fatter Senate version. Its many earmarks include $80 million in grants to states and Indian tribes to preserve Pacific salmon and $13 million in clean-water grants for rural and Alaska native villages.
There’s also $4 million sought by Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell for the Kentucky National Guard’s marijuana-eradication efforts and $8 million sought by GOP Sen. John Thune of South Dakota to help maintain the B-1 bomber fleet in his state.
Though their states benefit, both Republicans oppose the bill.
Tradition of piling on
The year-end logjam continues a long tradition in which Congress is unable to do its most basic job of providing money to run the government on time.
Eliminating the need for debates on a dozen separate appropriations bills, the omnibus spending measure rolls all the spending bills into a single piece of legislation that is likely to be brought to the floor in a way that keeps opponents from trimming it down.
Democrats hope to pass the measure by a midnight deadline Saturday. That would give them the latest — and perhaps last — victory over conservatives who contend the annual appropriations bills spend too much money and contain too many pork-barrel projects.
Incoming House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, promises to cut as much as $100 billion from 2011 agency budgets and ban earmarks. He signed a letter asking Obama to veto the omnibus bill because of its earmarks.
Highlights of the Senate spending bill
The bill introduced by the Appropriations Committee on Tuesday:
Provides more than $1.2 trillion for federal programs running through the end of the 2011 fiscal year next Sept. 30. That’s somewhat less than the budget proposed by President Barack Obama but about $18 billion above the spending bill the House narrowly passed last week.
Covers discretionary federal programs but not entitlement programs such as Medicare and Social Security or repayment of the national debt.
Runs to 2,000 pages and includes thousands of so-called earmarks, those special projects requested by individual members. The 423-page House bill, which essentially freezes spending at 2010 budget-year levels, has no earmarks.
Provides to the Pentagon $668 billion, including $158 billion to conduct the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. About $2.6 billion goes to the health care needs of veterans of those conflicts.
Provides the Department of Homeland Security $43.5 billion, about $1 billion above 2010 levels. That includes $5.6 billion for the Transportation Security Administration, $7.5 billion for Federal Emergency Management Agency, and $10 billion for customs and border protection to fully fund 20,500 Border Patrol agents.
Provides $53.5 billion for State Department operations. That includes $23 billion for bilateral economic aid, down more than $1 billion, and $9 billion for international security assistance, including peacekeeping.
Provides $25 billion for student financial aid. Maintains the maximum grant for the Pell Grant program for low-income college students at $5,550.
Provides $3.8 billion for state and local law enforcement, $345 million more than the president requested.
Challenges Obama with administration-opposed provisions to block the Pentagon from transferring prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United States and to continue a program to develop a second engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.
The Associated Press
