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Harkin, Shelby hold out hope on Labor, Health spending bill
Top Senate negotiators on the toughest piece of the year-end spending omnibus bill said Tuesday that they still think it is possible to resolve their differences.
Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa) and Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) said there is still time to come to an agreement on the appropriations bill for the departments of Labor and Health and Human Services.
That bill is to be wrapped into a nine-bill spending omnibus by the beginning of next week, but disputes remain over funding for President Obama's health reform law and over policy riders such as those targetting unions.
“We have been involved in negotiations continually on Labor, HHS and the answer is, yes, we are making progress,” Harkin said.
“We’re still talking. We’ve met a bunch of times,” Shelby said.
Shelby acknowledged that pro-life riders in the bill blocking funding for abortion providers is one of a number of issues the negotiators still face.
“We have got some big obstacles,” he said, but he indicated he has a short list of key demands he is bringing into the endgame.
Shelby said that he and Harkin may not be brought in by staff to finish off the bill until next week, however. If no agreement is found, a partial continuing resolution applying an across-the-board cut would be put in place for the bill as part of the omnibus package.
Current government funding runs out Dec. 16 and appropriators had hoped to release a bill next Monday.
In addition to the Labor bill, anti-Environmental Protection Agency riders in the Interior, Environment bill are also a major sticking point as is the issue of whether the entire administration request for $11.3 billion for disaster aid will be met.
Under the August debt ceiling deal, $11.3 billion on top of the $1.043 trillion spending limit can be spent on disaster.
Sen. Mary Landrieu (D-La.) said Tuesday she is still pushing for a full share of disaster relief.
She said that the appropriations bills would likely contain some riders given the need to pass the omnibus this month.
“I am sure there will be and it is very unfortunate,” she said. “I suspect that there are a lot of compromises being reached in order to get this bill to final.”
Sources have hinted that some minor riders such as one meant to limit abortions in the District of Columbia or one to keep gray wolves off the endangered species list may make it into the final bill.
Among Republicans, some are counseling to drop the riders in order to pass the omnibus and avoid resorting to a full year continuing resolution. A CR just maintains the status quo without updating funding for specific program to reflect new needs and policies.
“An omnibus bill is always difficult to pass and the fewer riders there are, the easier it is to pass,” said Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)
Alexander, an appropriator added that “a continuing resolution is bad management, it is lazy management.“
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