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October 9, 2007 President Vetoes SCHIP, Grassley Joins Dems in Seeking Override Votes
Last Week:
PRESIDENT VETOES SCHIP; GRASSLEY JOINS DEMS IN SEEKING OVERRIDE VOTES Last Wednesday, October 3, President Bush vetoed the bipartisan SCHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program) reauthorization/expansion bill (H.R. 976) which passed the Senate with a veto proof (67-29) vote, and the House by a vote of 265-159, 13 short of the two-thirds required to override a veto. After the veto, the Administration released a statement criticizing the bill for expanding the SCHIP program beyond its original mandate of covering poor children and arguing that the bill would allow States to use SCHIP funding to cover children in families with incomes as high as $83,000. [Context: The two-thirds required to override a veto is two-thirds of Representatives and Senators who are present and voting —not two-thirds of the entire chamber. For example, when the House voted to pass the bill, two-thirds of those present and voting would have been 283 votes—as opposed to two-thirds of the entire chamber which is 290 votes. For more information on veto override procedure, see this report by the Congressional Research Service.] Supporters of the bill, both Democratic and Republican, argue that: (1) the bill does nothing to change current law, which already permits States to increase the income cap on eligible families with Administration approval ; and (2) the President's proposed reauthorization would reduce the number of low-income children currently covered by SCHIP. Governor (and former Senator) Jon Corzine of New Jersey and HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt debated these issues on ABC's This Week. Prior to the President's veto, Senators Chuck Grassley (R-IA) and Orrin Hatch (R-UT), who joined in negotiating the bipartisan bill, released a letter calling the conference report a “good compromise.” Grassley and Hatch hope to convince a sufficient number of House Republican colleagues to override the President's veto when the matter is taken up by the House on Thursday, October 18. [Context: The SCHIP bill would reauthorize the program and increase Federal funding by $35 billion over 5 years-- ($30 billion more than the President's request). The bill largely resembles the Senate version, including a 61 cent per pack tax increase on cigarettes to pay for the cost of the reauthorization/expansion. (CBO Cost Estimate) SCHIP was established in 1997 and provides health coverage to children in families whose incomes are low, but somewhat higher than Medicaid's very tight income eligibility limits. The program operates similar to Medicaid with Federal reimbursements for a percentage of State expenditures to provide health coverage for eligible children.] Annenberg Political Fund Fact Check on SCHIP Bill SENATE PASSES '08 DEFENSE APPROPS; BEGINS C-J-S Last Wednesday, October 3, the Senate passed the FY 2008 Defense Appropriations Bill (H.R. 3222). Earlier in the day, the Senate amended the bill to include nearly $3.8 billion in emergency funds for border security, bringing total “base” funding to $463.1 billion. [Context: Democratic congressional leaders decided over the summer to consider as separate bills, a “base defense bill” and an FY 2008 war funding bill.] The President has objected to the funding level in the base defense bill because it is $3.5 billion less than President requested, albeit an overall increase of $39.4 billion over FY 2007. (Statement of Administration Policy) Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) sponsored the border security amendment, which passed the Senate 95-1. Although the $3 billion funding had already been included in the FY 2008 Homeland Security Appropriations, the President has threatened to veto the Homeland Security bill. The Senate also adopted by voice vote an amendment providing an additional $794 million for National Guard at the US-Mexico Border . After passing the Defense bill, the Senate began consideration of the Commerce-Justice-Science Appropriations (H.R. 3093). Before adjourning for the Columbus Day recess, the Senate adopted an amendment introduced by Commerce Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) that would provide $1 billion for NASA to redress costs from the Columbia crash, including reimbursements for “critical science, aeronautics and exploration programs that were cut to pay for repairs.” OBEY, MURTHA DELAY '08 WAR FUNDING BILL On Tuesday, October 2, House Appropriations Chairman Dave Obey (D-WI), joined by Defense Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha (D-PA) threatened to delay FY 2008 war funding until next year unless the Administration changes its Iraq policy. Obey said that he has “no intention of reporting the war supplemental out of Committee anytime in this session of Congress” if the President continues with the status quo. The President has requested $189 billion for FY 2008 military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. [Context: The President's FY 2008 Budget released last February requested $142 billion in war funding, and the President indicated on September 26 his intention to formally request an additional $47 billion for FY 2008.] (Obey Statement) At the same time, Obey and Murtha proposed a surtax to offset Iraq war costs, challenging the current practice of increasing the public debt to fund operations. However, Democratic congressional leaders were quick to disagree with the proposal. Speaker Pelosi stated unequivocally, “I am opposed to a war surtax.” (Pelosi Statement) [Context: An October 6, 2006 CRS report observed that the Iraq war “is not financed through higher tax revenues or lower non-military outlays. Therefore, the war can be thought to be entirely deficit financed. As opposed to past conflicts where taxes were raised, taxes were cut in 2003.” CRS, RL31176, pp. 15-16] STATUS OF APPROPRIATIONS [Context : Congressional Democrats and the President are currently locked in a face-off over appropriations levels, with Congress' Budget Resolution calling for $22 billion more in non-defense discretionary spending than the President's FY 2008 Budget request. The President has threatened to veto 9 of 12 appropriations bills. Staff pre-conferencing of the House- and Senate-passed bills will begin in earnest this week, because appropriations leaders reached an accommodation last week reconciling differences between the respective House and Senate 302(b) subcommittee allocations. (Following adoption of a Budget Resolution, which outlines the total discretionary spending for a fiscal year, House and Senate Appropriations Committees each subdivide their allocations among twelve subcommittees. Although the total of these suballocations, called “302(b) allocations,” are the same in both chambers, individual 302(b) allocations often differ between the House and Senate.)] Byrd Statement on the Status of Appropriations Status of pending appropriations: Agriculture/HR 3161: House bill $982 million over President's request; Senate-reported bill $874 million over President's request; White House threatened a veto on July 31. House Summary Senate Summary Commerce-Justice-Science/HR 3093: House bill $2.31 billion over President's request; Senate-reported bill $3.4 billion over President's request; White House threatened to veto the House and Senate bills. Senate will vote on the bill the week of October 14. House Summary Senate Summary Defense/HR 3222: House bill $3.29 billion under President's request; Senate-reported base bill (excluding emergency border security) $3.58 billion under President's request. No veto threat. Like MilCon-VA, Congressional Democrats are likely to hold off on sending the Defense bill to the President, instead using it as leverage to negotiate other bills' passage. House Summary Senate Summary Energy-Water/HR 2641: House bill $1.13 billion over President's request; Senate-reported bill $800 million over President's request; White House threatened a veto on June 13. House Summary Senate Summary Financial Services/HR 2829: House bill $244 million under President's request; Senate-reported bill $122 million over President's request; White House threatened a veto on June 26 because of provisions that would “weaken current [trade] restrictions against Cuba .” House Summary Senate Summary Homeland Security/HR 2638: House bill $2.06 billion over President's request; Senate bill $5.25 billion over President's request; White House has threatened to veto the House and Senate bills. House Summary Senate Summary Interior-Environment/HR 2643: House bill $1.95 billion over President's request; Senate-reported bill $1.498 billion over President's request; White House threatened a veto on June 25. House Summary Senate Summary Labor-HHS-Education/HR 3043: House bill $10.83 billion over President's request; Senate-reported bill $8.28 billion over President's request; White House threatened a veto on July 17. House Summary Senate Summary Legislative Branch/HR 2771: House bill $3.1 billion; Senate-reported bill $2.8 billion; President requested $4.33 billion (combined), White House has not threatened a veto. [Context: The House and Senate do not consider the spending of the other chamber until conference.] House Summary Senate Summary MilCon-VA/HR 2642: House bill $4 billion over President's request; Senate bill $4 billion over President's request; White House has not threatened a veto but insists on offsets in other spending bills. House Summary Senate Summary State-Foreign Ops/HR 2764: House bill $700 million under President's request; Senate bill $720 million under President's request; White House has threatened to veto the House and Senate bills. One of four bills House and Senate staff are pre-conferencing. [Context: Despite coming in under the President's request, both bills face veto threats because of language that would overturn a policy barring U.S. funding for any international organization that performs abortions overseas.] House Summary Senate Summary Transportation-HUD/HR 3074: House bill $2.77 billion over President's request; Senate bill $3.1 billion over President's request; White House has threatened to veto the House and Senate bills. House Summary Senate Summary HARKIN DELAYS FARM BILL MARK-UP AS BAUCUS' TAX PLAN PASSES FINANCE COMMITTEE Last Thursday, October 4, the Senate Finance Committee voted 17-4 to approve the “Heartland, Habitat, Harvest, and Horticulture Act of 2007,” an agriculture tax package that would create a disaster relief fund, provide rural development bonds and offer new tax credits. The package would include $5.1 billion for the disaster relief fund, $7.5 billion for conservation provisions and another $2 billion for energy tax credits and incentives. Overall the package is expected to cost about $16 billion. The package provides several different funding sources, including tariff revenues and codifying the “economic substance doctrine,” poorly defined rules relating to business tax shelters. Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) said that the amendment on the economic substance doctrine would clarify the rules and better define the penalties for corporations, which he believes will provide $10 billion in offsets. (JCT Revenue Estimate and Description of Provisions) [Context: The "Farm Bill," renewed every 5 to 6 years, governs the key aspects of Federal farm policy. Many provisions of the current Farm Bill, enacted in 2002, will expire this year. The 2002 bill covers a wide range of programs. Those with the greatest budget impact are (1) Food Stamps; (2) Commodity Support programs (government subsidies to producers of certain farm commodities--primarily corn, cotton, wheat, rice, and soybeans--intended to stabilize farm income); (3) Agricultural Conservation programs (payments and incentives addressing environmental concerns, soil erosion and water supplies);and (4) Export promotion programs.] NEW BUDGET DOCS GAO: Federal Emergency Management Agency: Ongoing Challenges Facing the National Flood Program CBO: Orszag Statement to the National Institute of Medicine on Growing Health Care Costs CBO: Monthly Budget Review, October 2007 CBO: Testimony on the Federal Government's Liabilities Under the Nuclear Waste Policy Act CBO: Potential Cost Savings from the Pre-Disaster Mitigation Program |
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| Charles S. Konigsberg, President | (202) 587-2984 (ph) | (202) 587-2983 (fax) | ckonigsberg@federalbudgetgroup.com | |
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