House, Senate on diverging paths on agency budgets

June 18, 2013 @ 1:59 pm


Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., accompanied by members of the GOP leadership, meet with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 18, 2013, following a Republican strategy session. From left are, Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., Sen. John Thune, R-S.D, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., McConnell, and Senate Minority Whip John Cornyn of Texas. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) | Zoom

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans controlling the House unveiled slashing cuts Tuesday to a program that helps localities build community development projects, while their rivals in the Democratic-led Senate proposed to restore GOP cuts to international food aid and nutrition help for pregnant women.

An Energy Department spending bill that would cut President Barack Obama's requests for renewable energy programs, meanwhile, began its advance through the House Appropriations Committee as the battling chambers continued to proceed down wildly divergent budget tracks.

Senate Democrats were pressing to restore deep cuts to domestic programs like education, housing, health research and a variety of other programs despite agency budget "caps" more than $90 billion below the $967 billion level set under current law.

At issue was Congress' nuts and bolts budget work _ the annual spending bills funding day-to-day agency operations _ but it was taking on the appearance of a slow-motion train wreck with the most likely result being even larger across-the-board cuts than were imposed earlier this year.

As long as Obama and congressional Republicans remain stalemated over the big-picture budget issues of taxes and curbing benefit programs like Medicare and food stamps, federal agencies remain stuck with deep, across-the-board spending cuts known as sequestration. The calendar is working against reversing sequestration for the current budget year expiring on Sept. 30 and hope is fading for a budget deal that would stave off even deeper cuts this fall.

The current situation has evolved from the failure of Obama and Congress to follow up the hard-fought 2011 budget and debt deal, which created sequestration as a $1.2 trillion backstop if Congress and Obama failed to deliver alternative deficit cuts to replace it. Originally designed to be so punishing as to force the sides to an agreement, sequestration now has become a grim reality, squeezing the Pentagon by about 8 percent and cutting domestic agencies by about 5 percent.

"I would anticipate that we probably see the sequester happen a second time," Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., said.

Unless Congress acts, sequestration will cap agency operating budgets at $967 billion next year, though so-called emergencies like overseas military operations and most disaster aid would add to that. House Republicans are sticking with the caps but cutting domestic programs even more deeply in order to channel resources to the Pentagon.

The result is measures like the $44 billion transportation and housing bill released Tuesday by the House Appropriations Committee. The bill cuts the popular community development grant program, which funds projects like sidewalks, playgrounds and low-income housing rehabilitation, by $1.3 billion, to just $1.6 billion, the lowest level since the Ford administration in the 1970s.

The measure also cuts funding for so-called Section 8 housing vouchers, which is likely to mean that people won't be added to the program off of waiting lists that already can span many years. It eliminates funding for the Choice Neighborhoods program that seeks to revive struggling urban areas with public housing projects.

"This bill is an example of the current budgetary trade-offs facing our nation _ the need to make deep cuts to meet our fiscal constraints and address the deficit, while maintaining funding for important government programs and services" like housing, transportation infrastructure and air traffic control, House Appropriations Committee Chairman Harold Rogers, R-Ky., said. The bill would avoid layoffs or furloughs of air traffic controllers, Rogers said, and would make sure that everyone receiving a subsidized housing voucher will continue to receive one.

The measure would eliminate funding for high-speed rail projects and cut back capital projects for Amtrak from $952 million to $600 million.

It was a different picture in the Senate, where two subcommittees approved bipartisan bills funding the departments of Agriculture and the Veterans Affairs. The Senate's $21 billion agriculture measure is $1.4 billion more generous than the House measure, which allowed Appropriations agriculture subcommittee Chairman Mark Pryor, D-Ark., to restore House GOP cuts to the widely-backed Food for Peace program delivering U.S. food aid overseas. The panel also restored House cuts to the Women, Infants and Children program that feeds low-income mothers and their babies.

But some Republicans opposed the legislation because the panel drafted the bills at levels that ignore the current budget sequestration vise.

"It is the law and whether we like it or not I think we need to honor that," said Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind. "But these appropriations bills in the whole ... ignore the sequester."


(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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Comments (77)


  • Add A Comment

  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    ch posts
    March 4, 2013 6:21 am
    Okay ch it is now the first day of March, 2013 and the end of the world? Midnight clown midnight. You were never in this world! Watch this clown cry to high heaven when she gets her republican cut. Still got your flag upside down pin head?

    Okay Crack Head, it is 4 days later. Midnight has come and gone how many times? And the world, despite your Dear Leader and all you useful idiots, is still here. How many people have been laid off? How many airplanes have fallen out of the sky ch?Next the moron tries the long worn out talking point of, .........wait for it! Yep! "It all Bush's fault" Seriously, Dude et, seek mental help before you go postal! AND PAY FOR IT YOURSELF!!!

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    And incase I forgot to turn this off
    March 4, 2013 6:22 am
    !
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • It's me! Ha ha! wrote...
    Military spending cuts are unpopular. But not with Left wing Parrots.
    March 4, 2013 9:11 am
    Welfare and illegal spending cuts would save us lots of money, not cause the unemployment to tick up and not cause our nation to become weaker as a result. But the Dear Leader will never do this!

    Comrade Obama can gut the military but who does he think will protect him from the Militant Muslims who could take this opportunity to invade our nation? Even after the man child you Parrots Dear Leader disarms us Americans?

    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rangerhawk wrote...
    A shutdown might not have been so bad
    March 6, 2013 6:23 pm
    As the sequester has shown, the less this administration can spend (borrow), the more stocks and the economy grow. Who would have thought that would be the case? Will be comical watching them try to spin this now.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HPD 5-0 wrote...
    "charm"
    March 7, 2013 8:35 pm
    Owebama's "charm" only works on desperate,stupid,weak-minded sheeple. See CH...
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Rangerhawk wrote...
    So from "Spewing" to "Wooing"
    March 10, 2013 11:14 am
    In otherwords, since his last tantrum he's calmed down a bit. His greatest achievement in office so far is his own Sequester!
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • HikerACE wrote...
    And his improved golf game.
    March 10, 2013 4:20 pm
    His other achievements are all negative.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • longwayhome wrote...
    That image of paul ryan...
    March 11, 2013 7:45 pm
    Going out the door, wondering if anyone noticed the pageboy that left just before him. He has that "deer in the headlights" look that a lot of republicans have these day, not knowing what is coming next. They should all be worried, very, very worried.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • longwayhome wrote...
    hpd and maplecrap prove themselves again
    March 11, 2013 7:52 pm
    Anger and faux news inuendo, throw in some drooling from limbaugh and you have all the news they need to know, or can understand.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • murr wrote...
    Easy to take aim
    March 12, 2013 3:29 am
    At something thats broke before its started. Who's behind it ???????? Oh OBAMACARE, enough said. Could his last name be solyndra. The direction is the same, all talk, no walk.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • SickofSeattleite wrote...
    At this point what does Obama have to loose?
    March 12, 2013 5:46 am
    Give Ryan's plan a chance, it actually sounds logical and fair. The difference is Ryan actually might be one of the last politicians who still might be human inside. Ryan's plan sounds better than Obama's usual spend and blame reputation. What a worthless sack of crapp.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • Drool wrote...
    The Ryan Plan...
    March 12, 2013 5:18 pm
    ....was voted on in November.
    { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }
  • { "Thumbs Up":"1","Thumbs Down":"-1" }