Legislative Debate

In a party-line vote of 239-160, the House approves a bill eliminating the $3 payment to the presidential campaign fund.

So much for working together. House members on Wednesday took to the floor for a bitter debate over campaign financing.

Despite last night's pleas to work together, the House returns this morning at 10 a.m. and soon after that will work on a bill to end taxpayer funding for presidential campaigns and party conventions, an item the White House opposes. The Senate convenes at 9:30 a.m. and will continue to fight over whether or how Senate filibuster rules should be changed.

In the House, as many as five hours of debate are allowed today on the campaign funding bill, H.R. 359. But it should not take that long, as only six amendments will be considered.

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer this morning urged Democrats to vote against the bill. "H.R. 359 would not strengthen our federal election campaign process, nor would it help to correct some of its current flaws," Hoyer said. "It would simply eliminate the program, which aims to give smaller donors an equally important role in the election process."

A brief summary of the six that were printed in the Congressional Record and thus are eligible for consideration:

1) Ensure that all money saved (estimates are $617 million over ten years) goes to reducing the deficit, from Rep. Gary Peters (D-Mich.).

2) After funding is terminated, use any unused money to pay for security at Presidential nominating conventions, from Rep. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.).

The House on Tuesday approved a measure intended to set austere budget goals for the current fiscal year. 

Anyone who missed the tenor of Monday's tense budget debate can catch a repeat showing today. In the run-up to a vote this afternoon on the Republican resolution for the FY 2011 budget, Democrats argued that Republicans do not have a budget number, and that it is unclear how the budget for the rest of 2011 will be cut to 2008 levels or possibly lower.

Republicans argued back that numbers are coming, and that they are only dealing with the budget for 2011 because Democrats failed to pass one themselves. In tone and substance it was very similar to yesterday's debate, which was on the rule; today's debate is on the actual resolution.

One new twist today was the appearance of House leaders and committee chairmen from both parties. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.), who said 2011 numbers cannot be determined today because no Congressional Budget Office baseline has been provided. A CBO baseline will be provided on Wednesday, Ryan said, and that will allow Republicans to find out how much more can be spend in the current fiscal year without breaching 2008 levels.

By a 240-168 vote, the House just approved H.Res 43, the rule for a Republican budget resolution that would set up cuts to discretionary non-security spending for the rest of FY 2011. The budget resolution, H.Res. 38, will be voted on tomorrow after a one-hour debate.

The rule was approved after a contentious hour-long debate in which Democrats charged that Republicans are not being transparent, since the underlying resolution does not call for a specific budget number. Still, the rule attracted the support of about eight Democrats. See our post below for debate details.

The rule survived a procedural vote of 238-174, just before the final vote. Democrats urged House members to reject the rule in the procedural vote in order to amend it to ensure that FBI counterterrorism programs are not cut.

The House is now moving to special order speeches for the remainder of the evening.

Republicans and Democrats in the House on Monday evening restarted their debate over whether a Republican budget resolution is a serious budget-cutting proposal or not.

House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier (R-Calif.) opened the debate at 5:15 p.m. by saying H.R. 43 is "merely the very first step in an ongoing effort to bring our federal budget back into the black." H.R. 43 is a rule for considering H.R. 38, which will instruct the House Budget Committee to set spending levels for the rest of fiscal year 2011 at 2008 levels or lower.

Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) has said it may cut as much as $60 billion from FY 2011, but there is no precise estimate at this point. Republicans are pressing for steeper cuts.

House Democrats, led by Rules Committee member James McGovern (D-Mass.), continued to argue that H.R. 38 is not a "good-faith effort," in large part because it does not include a specific budget proposal for FY 2011.

Republicans' choice of Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) to both lead the House Budget Committee and respond to the President’s State of the Union address signifies their leadership’s support for dismantling Social Security and Medicare, leading congressional Democrats argued on Monday.

“In an unsettling development for America’s seniors, ending Social Security and Medicare is now the official position of the Republican Party,” announced Senate Majority Harry Reid (D-Nev.) in a statement on Monday. “Republicans tapped Congressman Ryan, the architect of a plan to end Social Security and Medicare, to deliver their response to the President’s State of the Union, and his plan has been endorsed by the House Majority Leader and the top Republicans on the House and Senate budget committees.”

In a conference call with reporters on Monday afternoon, Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) also said they believe Republicans are using Ryan as a ‘lightning rod’ for their plan to dissemble Social Security and Medicare.

“It’s clear from their selection of Congressman Ryan to be spokesman in the wake of the State of the Union address, and from their decision to vote on a resolution to give him unfettered power on what to cut, that they are getting behind his plan,” said Whitehouse. “That makes is clear they are going after Social Security and Medicare.”

Sanders called Ryan’s priorities “absurd” and “a very wrong approach for the country.”

“We need to strengthen social security, not weaken it,” said Sanders.

Ryan’s roadmap would reduce Social Security benefits and replace Medicare with private voucher payments for most younger Americans.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) said today that he will be listening to President Obama's State of the Union Address tomorrow night for his proposals on how to handle the U.S. debt and the best way to create U.S. jobs. A post on Cantor's site today said the Republican "cut and grow" plan is better than Obama's "cut and invest" strategy, which expands government, not private sector growth.

"Will the President stick to his philosophy that Washington regulation, mandates, and spending lead to economic growth and job creation, or will he change course?" Cantor's post asked. "Will he acknowledge the results of the recent election and the mistakes of the previous two years and change course or will it be more of the same?"

Cantor and other Republicans over the weekend started casting Democrats' vision of government by saying that "invest" is code for "spending."

The House will reconvene at 2 p.m. today to debate spending, and is expected to hold a vote tomorrow on a resolution limiting spending for the remainder of fiscal year 2011.

Undersecretary of Commerce for International Trade Francisco Sanchez this morning hinted that the Obama administration will not attempt to move three outstanding trade agreements in tandem early this year, and is instead likely to focus on the South Korea free trade agreement (FTA). This position puts the administration at odds with the new House Republican majority, which wants to bring FTAs with Korea, Panama and Colombia to the House floor by this summer.

Speaking on C-SPAN this morning, Sanchez said the administration would put forward the Korea implementing legislation "very soon." The administration and South Korea last month updated its agreement with Korea that will allow the U.S. to maintain its minimal auto tariffs on Korean cars, and reduce barriers to imports of U.S. cars, changes that are seen as helping to build a critical mass of Democrats who favor the Korea FTA.

But when asked to react to Republican demands to move all three FTAs, Sanchez said the administration also supports all three, but added that "not all trade agreements are created equal." Sanchez said the administration wants to move the FTAs when they are in the best interest of U.S. workers, and said all three would be pursued once this is achieved.