FY05APPROPRIATIONSUPDATE

"HELLO, I MUST BE GOING"

October 13, 2004

That song from the 1930 classic, Animal Crackers, captured the mayhem and zaniness of the Marx brothers at their best.  It could've also provided the musical backdrop for this year's session of Congress, where lawmakers managed to get by with 67 legislative work-days.  But in this movie, the only comic relief may have come earlier this year, when congressional leaders promised to get their work done before Congress adjourned for the November 2 elections.  Government appropriations bills totaling over $821 billion, a national energy policy, tort reform and a $300 billion transportation bill were all touted as "must do" legislation that would absolutely, positively be resolved by early October.  Above all, leaders said at the time, they would avoid returning after the elections for a lame-duck session, because that would be interpreted as Congress failing to do its job.

But someone must have said the secret word because the lame duck appeared.

With election day fast-approaching, many of the same lawmakers who had confidently predicted a short and productive work-year came to the conclusion that a lame-duck session might actually be preferable.

Among other things, there was growing anxiety among some lawmakers that they needed to get home to campaign full-time as soon as possible.  Given the fragile balance of power, particularly in the Senate, they concluded that this was not the time to give their opponents the upper hand.  Furthermore, they reasoned, a lame-duck session would allow them to avoid making tough choices just weeks before the elections.  

Unfortunately, the decision to leave town on October 11 leaves a wide range of issues unresolved, not the least of which are: final action on the 9/11 Commission's recommendations for intelligence reform, a vote on drug reimportation, a national transportation policy, and 9 of 13 appropriations bills for fiscal year 2005, including programs supporting public health and medical research, education, agriculture, veterans' care and housing. 

Status quo through November 20

Official acknowledgement that Congress would return to work after the elections came on the eve of the new federal fiscal year, when lawmakers passed a continuing resolution enabling federal departments and agencies to keep functioning through November 20.  Under the terms of the CR, programs will continue to operate at the fiscal year 2004 level.

Of the 13 annual spending bills, Congress has completed its work on only four—the Defense Department, Military Construction, Homeland Security and the District of Colu—leaving numerous departments and agencies including NASA, the State Department, the FBI and the Department of Veterans Affairs without a final budget for 2005.

Appropriations work continues

What happens next—and when—depends in large measure on the outcome of both the presidential and congressional elections.  Conventional wisdom has it that if Democratic candidate John Kerry defeats President Bush, or if Democrats capture control of the Senate and/or House, unfinished legislative business would likely be postponed until next February or March, after election winners are sworn in.  (This is not a new phenomenon.  For the past two years, work on federal appropriations bills wasn't completed until the next calendar year.)  On the other hand, if President Bush wins and the GOP retains its control of Congress, lawmakers will be more inclined to finish up work on appropriations bills before the end of the year.

Regardless of what the future holds, the House and Senate appropriations committees are using the time between now and November 16—when Congress returns to work—to try to resolve their differences over the remaining appropriations bills.  Depending upon the amount of progress that's made, it's possible that appropriations—most likely in the form of an omnibus appropriations bill—could be adopted before the end of 2004.