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["Toni Hawryluk" <tonihawr AT msn.com>]

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap11-20-130506.asp?t=apnew&vts=112020041756<http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap11-20-130506.asp?t=apnew&vts=112020041756>

 

House passes $388 billion spending bill that reins in domestic programs

By ALAN FRAM
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 - Republicans whisked a $388 billion spending bill 
through the House on Saturday, a mammoth measure that underscores the 
dominance of deficit politics 

 

by curbing dollars 

 

for everything from education to environmental cleanups. 

       Lawmakers approved the measure by a bipartisan 344-51 margin on what 
might be the last day of their post-election session. 

     Though not in doubt, passage was taking longer in the Senate. 
Abortion-rights supporters there were opposing a provision making it easier 
for health-care providers to decline to provide abortions or offer counseling 
and referrals. 
       Senate Democrats also objected to language letting top members of 
Congress' Appropriations committees send people to examine income tax 
returns, without any penalties should they publicly disclose them. 
Republicans said they also opposed the language and would eliminate it in 
later legislation. 
       From its tight domestic spending to the Democratic-backed provisions 
on overtime and other issues that were dropped, the bill is a monument to the 
GOP's raw power controlling the White House and Congress. An imposing 
monument, too: The bill and explanatory report, completed near midnight 
Friday, were about 14 inches tall, leaving many lawmakers baffled about its 
precise contents. 
       ''I'm very proud of the fact that we held the line and made Congress 
make choices and set priorities, because it follows our philosophy,'' 
Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said in House debate. 
       Even President Bush's initiatives were not immune to cuts as the 
bill's GOP chief authors heeded his demands to control spending. His request 
for development of new nuclear weapons was rejected; his budget for the 
AmeriCorps volunteer program was sliced by 12 percent; and the $2.5 billion 
he wanted to aid countries adopting democratic practices was slashed by $1 
billion. 
       Passage would crown the lame-duck session of Congress, which began 
Tuesday. Lawmakers hoped to leave town for the year Saturday night, but 
Senate delays on the spending bill and the collapse of bargaining over a 
measure reorganizing <>U.S. intelligence agencies left timing in doubt. 
       Also enacted during the postelection session was an $800 billion 
increase in the government's borrowing limit. The measure was yet another 
testament to record annual deficits, which reached $413 billion last year and 
are expected to climb indefinitely. 
       While the spending bill was one of the most austere in years, it had 
something for virtually every lawmaker, including mountains of home-district 
projects. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a bipartisan group favoring less 
federal spending, said it found 11,772 projects worth $15.8 billion. 
       Projects included: 
       -$335,000 to protect sunflowers in North Dakota from blackbird damage. 
       -$60 million for a new courthouse in Las Cruces, N.M. 
       -$225,000 to study catfish genomes at Alabama's Auburn University. 
       -A potential boon for Bush himself, $2 million for the government to 
try buying back the former presidential yacht Sequoia. The boat was sold 
three decades ago, and its current owners say the yacht is assessed at $9.8 
million and are distressed by the provision. 
       Despite complaints the bill was too stingy, most Democrats supported 
it. They helped write it and included many projects for themselves. They knew 
the alternative - holding spending to last year's levels - would be $4 
billion tighter. 
       Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., said the bill ''falls so far from meeting our 
investment obligations for the future that it could only be brought to the 
floor by the majority party after the election.'' 
       The measure was a compendium of nine bills that Republicans found too 
contentious to complete before the Nov. 2 elections. The legislation covers 
almost every domestic agency and department, plus foreign aid. 
       The FBI, the Securities and Exchange Commission and NASA got healthy 
increases. But education grew by less than 2 percent. The Environmental 
Protection Agency grew by 3.5 percent. 
       Overall, the nine bills the measure combined were just 2 percent 
larger than last year's versions. When foreign aid and defense spending are 
omitted, the remaining domestic programs grew by around 1 percent. 
       To stay within the spending constraints Bush demanded, all programs in 
the bill eventually will be cut by at least 0.8 percent. 
       One of the last measures to pass Congress this year, the spending bill 
bore fruit for many industries while leaving other interests short. 
       There will be visas for 20,000 more skilled foreign workers for high 
technology businesses. Satellite television companies will be able to feed 
digital network programming to rural viewers. 
       Two labor-led efforts failed to make the cut. One would have blocked 
Bush administration rules on overtime pay. The second would have prevented 
the Internal Revenue Service from using private debt collectors to collect 
overdue taxes. 
       Efforts to extend some federal milk subsidies and repeal 
country-of-origin labels for many foods also failed. But included were new 
rules governing the recreational use of federal lands and federal small 
business programs. 
       A bridge near the Hoover Dam between Arizona and Nevada was named for 
Pat Tillman, the professional football player killed while serving in the 
military in Afghanistan. 
       House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., won a 
provision naming the oak tree as the national tree. 
       Congress is supposed to complete 13 spending bills financing federal 
agencies by the Oct. 1 start of each budget year. Four of those bills 
financing the military, homeland security and the District of Columbia were 
enacted earlier this year. 
       To give White House officials time to review the bill, the House 
passed a measure temporarily financing covered agencies through Dec. 3. 
Senate passage was expected. 



© 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be 
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.