- Tue. Oct. 7, 2008
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Stimulus Package Is Shaped Quickly
The Bush administration and congressional leaders reached initial agreement this week on economic stimulus legislation aimed at providing a quick boost to the sagging U.S. economy. Hoping to get a package signed into law next month, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr., House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, and other leaders huddled throughout the week to work out the details of a bipartisan deal, which centered on rebates of at least $300 per person, plus billions of dollars in tax breaks to spur business spending. "We can find common ground to get something done that's big enough and effective enough so that a economy that is inherently strong gets a boost, to make sure that this uncertainty doesn't translate into more economic woes for our workers and small-business people," President Bush said before a January 22 meeting with Pelosi, Boehner, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. But rank-and-file lawmakers on both sides of the aisle tested the leaders' tenuous truce by proposing a variety of measures unpopular with the other party. Democrats pushed for increased food stamp benefits, money for infrastructure projects, and extra federal aid to states; Republicans pushed for a variety of additional tax cuts for businesses and individuals. Many lawmakers, sensing that only a small portion of their ideas would be included in the initial package, began planning for a second round of economic legislative fights later in the year. Reid, however, said on January 24 that Senate Democrats would seek to add extra unemployment benefits and other spending programs when the Senate Finance Committee begins marking up a stimulus package next week. For her part, Pelosi noted at a January 24 press conference, "I can't say I'm totally pleased with the package, but I do know that it will help stimulate the economy."
-- Brian Friel/National Journal
Revised Defense Bill Is Finalized
The Senate on January 22 voted 91-3 to approve a revised fiscal 2008 Defense authorization bill that addresses objections raised by the White House last month, when President Bush unexpectedly rejected the measure. The House's 369-46 approval came last week, so the legislation is now headed to Bush, who is expected to sign it. The measure authorizes military pay increases and bonuses and includes several policy initiatives intended to improve oversight of the Defense Department and its contractors. Both chambers originally approved the bill by wide margins before the Christmas recess, but Bush on December 28 raised concerns that a little-publicized provision would freeze billions of dollars in Iraqi assets held in U.S. financial institutions, devastating reconstruction plans in Iraq. That original provision, sponsored by Sen. Frank Lautenberg, D-N.J., expanded the ability of U.S. victims of terrorism to sue current and former state sponsors of terrorism for damages in U.S. courts. The language would have held the Iraqi government liable for lawsuits filed by victims of Saddam Hussein's regime. The revised language includes a presidential waiver for claims against Iraq that occurred before enactment of the bill. Lawmakers also added nonbinding language urging the president to work with the Iraqi government to compensate Saddam's victims.
-- Megan Scully/CongressDaily
House Falls Short on SCHIP, Again
The House on January 23 failed to override President Bush's second veto of legislation expanding the State Children's Health Insurance Program. The vote was 260-152, falling 15 votes short of the two-thirds majority needed to overcome the president's objections. The bill, which Bush vetoed in December, would have added $35 billion to the program, paid for by a tobacco tax increase. This week's tally was similar to the House's first attempt to override Bush's veto of SCHIP legislation in October. Voting to override were all Democrats but one -- Rep. Jim Marshall of Georgia -- plus 42 Republicans. House Democrats expect to revisit the issue again this year, probably in connection with a bill that would reverse a Health and Human Services Department rule requiring states to cover 95 percent of all low-income children before expanding SCHIP eligibility to those in higher-income levels. States contend that it is impossible to meet that benchmark. Democrats say they hope talks will continue on the SCHIP legislation with rank-and-file House Republicans, who last year sat through marathon -- but ultimately fruitless -- negotiating sessions aimed at attracting their support. Rep. Jeff Fortenberry, R-Neb., who was part of those talks, said he wanted to continue the negotiations but acknowledged that without the pressure of an expiration deadline, it would be difficult to focus lawmakers' attention on the issue. "Think about the way Congress works," Fortenberry said. "Probably until it's pressing, it's not going to come up." Late last year, Bush signed an 18-month extension of SCHIP that will expire in March 2009.
-- Fawn Johnson/CongressDaily
Senate Returns to FISA Debate
The Senate on January 23 began a long-anticipated debate over legislation to rein in the executive branch's spying powers and overhaul the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Congress is up against the clock, as a temporary law reforming FISA expires on February 1. It was not clear whether the House and Senate will be able to agree on final legislation that President Bush would sign before the temporary law expires. Although Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., asked Senate Republicans and the White House for a 30-day extension to complete work on the bill, Republicans objected, forcing debate to begin. Vice President Cheney this week said it was urgent for Congress to act before February 1, and he called on lawmakers to make the law permanent, rather than passing legislation that will expire in four or six years. But Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said it would be "essential" to include a sunset to force Congress to revisit how the law is working. Cheney also pushed for protections for telecommunications companies against lawsuits for helping the administration spy on U.S. citizens without warrants dating back to 2001. White House advisers previously said they would recommend a veto of any FISA legislation that does not protect the companies, which face about 40 civil lawsuits. Senators are heavily divided over whether the companies should receive protections, and a FISA reform bill that the House approved last fall does not provide any such protections. Privacy and civil-liberties groups back the House-passed bill. Senators are also divided over how much oversight and power the secret FISA court should have in regulating the administration's spying activities.
-- Chris Strohm/CongressDaily
Budget May Not Include Iraq Funds
In a move sure to draw sharp protests on Capitol Hill, Pentagon officials are not planning to send Congress a fiscal 2009 war spending supplemental request along with the Bush administration's annual budget request next month, congressional and defense sources said. Instead, the hefty war supplemental will likely go to the Hill in the spring, weeks after the Defense Appropriations subcommittees begin their scrub of the Pentagon's fiscal 2009 budget. "The administration has concluded that it's better not to say anything than to even suggest something," a House Democratic aide said. It "looks like they're going to continue funding the war as they have been." A Pentagon spokesman said that no firm decision had been made and emphasized that it would be premature to comment. For several years, lawmakers have criticized the Bush administration for relying on emergency spending, which is not subject to the same caps and oversight as traditional budget requests, to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Critics in both parties have argued that the operations can no longer be called "emergencies" and should be considered in tandem with the routine budget request. In 2006, Congress attached a provision to the fiscal 2007 Defense authorization bill requiring DOD to request all predictable war costs at the same time it submits its annual budgets. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., sponsored the language in the Senate, where it drew unanimous support. In his signing statement on that bill, President Bush raised constitutional issues with the provision, but for fiscal 2008, he requested $141.7 billion in emergency wartime spending along with the annual DOD budget; the Pentagon later requested an additional $47.6 billion for overseas operations.
-- Megan Scully/CongressDaily
Walsh Joins GOP Retiree List
Rep. James Walsh, R-N.Y., announced on January 24 that he will not seek re-election after having served 20 years in the House. A senior member of the Appropriations Committee, Walsh, 60, represents an upstate district that has become increasingly Democratic in recent years, with victories by Democratic presidential candidates in the past four elections. In 2006, Walsh survived with a 51-49 percent victory over former House Democratic aide Dan Maffei -- by far his closest contest. In an open letter to his constituents, Walsh said that contest "made me focus on the future," and he concluded, "I need a change.... I've met my goals and I've climbed all the political mountains I set out to climb." The announcement was a further setback for House Republicans, who currently have 20 open seats to defend in November, compared with only five for the Democrats. In addition, four GOP-held seats are vacant or soon will be, with special elections scheduled for this spring.
-- Richard E. Cohen/National Journal
CongressDaily's Final Word
"He's been wrong so many times, I don't want him quoted by anyone on this panel."
-- Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky., referring to Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke at a January 22 Senate Finance Committee hearing