Appropriations

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), ranking member of the House Budget Committee, introduced a bill Friday that would grant the president greater ability to eliminate wasteful spending embedded in appropriations bills.

The power, known as “line-item veto light”, would allow the president to submit a bill rescinding specific items within 45 days of an appropriations bill being enacted.

The bill would have to receive an up-or-down vote, and savings would go toward deficit reduction, Van Hollen’s office said in a statement. The number of rescissions in the president’s bill would be limited, however.

In the 1990s, Congress granted the president a line-item veto, but that was struck down as unconstitutional. Currently the president must either accept an entire spending bill or veto the entire bill under threat of a government shutdown.

The bill has 27 House co-sponsors, all Democrats. It is the companion bill to S. 102, introduced by Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Tom Carper (D-Del.) with 33 bipartisan co-sponsors. 

It is backed by House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.), who called on the GOP to back the bill.

“Democrats are committed to restoring fiscal discipline and cutting spending, and the bill introduced today will provide another tool for us to do that. Under expedited rescission, Congress and the President can work together to cut wasteful, duplicative spending. I hope my Republican colleagues back up their calls for reduced spending with action and join us in moving this bill forward," Hoyer said.

The House Blue Dog Coalition is behind the bill.

“Expedited rescission has always been a key priority of the Blue Dogs, but it's just one of many tools we need to restore fiscal discipline to our budget," said Rep. John Barrow (D-Ga.), Blue Dog co-chairman for policy. “Over the coming months you'll see many more ideas from the Blue Dogs that will promote smart, common-sense ways to reduce wasteful spending, increase fiscal responsibility, and strengthen our economy.” 

A federal consumer database opposed by industry lobbyists went live on Friday, despite an effort by Republicans in the House to block it.

The database will allow consumers to file complaints via www.SaferProducts.gov by flagging problems with products. Industry representatives have argued that it will contain complaints not based in fact, harming the reputations of safe products.

The House-passed seven-month 2011 spending bill contains an amendment sponsored by Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-Kan.) that would forbid any funds in the bill from being used by the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) to implement the database.

Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho) says Republicans are looking at earmarked funds for most of the cuts.

Sen. Olympia Snowe (R-Maine) ultimately voted for the House-passed spending bill on Wednesday, but that hasn't stopped one of her Tea Party-backed primary opponents from blasting her.

Businessman Scott D'Amboise said in a statement late Wednesday that Snowe's reservations on any of the $57 billion in cuts in the House bill, which also defunds Planned Parenthood and environmental projects, are a strike against her.

“Sen. Snowe's hesitation to support the spending cuts recommended by the House demonstrates her continued move left. She has disregarded the conservative desires of the people of Maine, forgetting long ago who she is supposed to represent. That's why a recent survey shows that Snowe's image among Republicans is irreparably damaged,” he said.

“In 2010, the voters in Maine voted for a staunchly conservative governor. In 2012, these same voters will support a conservative candidate like me instead of blindly returning Snowe to D.C.,” he added.

Snowe was one of several centrist Republicans who expressed problems with the House CR but ulimately toed the party line. Sens. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), Dick Lugar (R-Ind.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) were all seen as wanting to change portions of the bill.

Snowe is also being opposed by Tea Party Patriots candidate Andrew Ian Dodge.

By one estimate, government employees earn nearly four times more than the average private-sector worker.

As the Senate prepares to vote this afternoon on a House-passed 2011 spending bill cutting $57 billion, President Obama on Wednesday reissued his threat to veto the bill.

"The Administration strongly opposes Senate passage of H.R. 1, making appropriations for the Department of Defense and the other departments and agencies of the Government for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes," a release states.

It adds that "the unbalanced bill would undermine the Nation’s economic recovery and its ability to succeed in a complex global environment."

"If the President is presented with a bill that undermines critical priorities or national security through funding levels or restrictions, contains earmarks, or curtails the drivers of long-term economic growth and job creation while continuing to burden future generations with deficits, the President will veto the bill," the release states.

As expected, the White House said it strongly supports the Senate Democrat alternative, cutting between $4.7 billion and $6.2 billion depending on whether rescissions of unspent funds are included.

"The amendment is a fair compromise and, unlike H.R. 1, does not undermine the Nation’s economic recovery and long-term growth," it states.

Centrist Democrats have been calling on Obama to step in and take charge of the spending negotiations. On Tuesday, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) accused the president of failing to lead on the issue.

He and other moderates, including Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) are expected to vote against the Democrats' bill for failing to cut enough.

The head of the Social Security Administration testified Wednesday that cuts in the House-passed 2011 spending bill will affect the ability of his agency to provide benefits this year.

The Democratic head of the Senate Appropriations Committee seized on the testimony to blast the House bill and employ the “third rail” of American politics against it.

SSA Administrator Commissioner Michael Astrue testified that failing to receive $12 billion President Obama requested for the agency in fiscal 2011 means the agency will not be able to eliminate long backlogs in paying disability payments.

“Suddenly reducing funding halfway through the fiscal year could eliminate the progress we have made,” in doing so already, he said. Before 2007, many claimants were waiting up to 1,400 days to have a hearing on their disability claims, he testified. The SSA is now dealing with those waiting 775 days and longer.

He said that due to the fact appropriations bills were not passed last year, SSA has cut 3,500 employees this fiscal year and discontinued service at remote sites.

“I regret we may not be able to meet our commitments to the American people,” he said. "We are barely above the level where we need to furlough."

Tom Harkin, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee's Labor, Health and Human Services subcommittee said it was clear “adequate funding for the Social Security Administration to properly administer its program is at risk.”

A liberal think tank is calling on Congress to embrace a $382 billion stimulus plan to lower unemployment. 

The call from the liberal Demos group comes as the White House and congressional Democrats and Republicans argue over how greatly to cut this year's spending. House Republicans have proposed a total of $61 billion in cuts this year, while the White House has agreed to a total of $10.5 billion in cuts. 

Officials with Demos told reporters on a conference call that their new stimulus plan would create 8.2 million government jobs over two years while lowering unemployment from 8.9 percent to 4.5 percent. 

They also said it would be politically popular.

“Poll after poll indicates the American people want job creation over other national goals, including deficit reduction,” Demos Vice President Tamara Draut told reporters. 

The spending debate will continue to be the hot topic on Capitol Hill in the days ahead. The gap between the two parties appears significant, but with both sides wanting to avoid a shutdown, the haggling will continue in earnest all week.

The Senate is planning a pair of test votes Tuesday on two spending packages. The one passed by the Republican-led House would cut $61 billion this year, while another, pushed by the White House, would cut $6.5 billion over the same time frame. Republicans leaders were quick to dismiss the administration’s proposal Friday, and the test votes should crystallize where lawmakers stand.

The spending debate will be the subject of two hearings on Tuesday. The Senate Budget Committee will welcome the architects of the deficit reduction package from President Obama’s fiscal commission — former Sen. Alan Simpson (R-Wyo.) and former Clinton Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles.

A death knell rang out Friday for high-speed rail in Florida as Gov. Rick Scott (R) rejected billions in federal economic stimulus funds. 

Scott rejected $2.4 billion in federal funding this morning shortly after the Florida Supreme Court ruled that the governor didn't have to accept the money designated for a high-speed rail line between Tampa and Orlando, which was supposed to be completed by 2015. 

"The governor is gratified that the court provided a clear and unanimous decision, he is now focused on moving forward with infrastructure projects that create long-term jobs and turn Florida’s economy around," Scott said in a statement. 

Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) has been fighting Scott's decision of nearly two weeks ago and asked Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on Thursday to consider an additional week to find a way to funnel the money to the project, which he says would create about 24,000 jobs.