(The following story by Kathryn A. Wolfe appeared on the Congressional Quarterly website on November 19.)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The House adopted a conference report on the $105.6 billion fiscal 2008 Transportation-HUD spending bill last week, but the Senate will wait until after the two-week Thanksgiving break to consider it.
The House adopted the conference report by a vote of 270-147, short of the two-thirds majority that would be required to override a veto. When the Senate passed its version of the spending bill (HR 3074) on Oct. 16, it did so by a margin large enough to override a veto, but it is uncertain whether that majority will hold when the Senate considers the conference report. (House vote 1102, p. 3500)
Even if the Senate does clear the bill, President Bush plans to make it the second fiscal 2008 appropriations bill he will veto. In a statement of administration policy issued Nov. 14, Bush criticized the Transportation bill for “an irresponsible and excessive level of spending” and for the number of earmarks it contains. The day before, Bush vetoed the bill (HR 3043) that would fund Labor, Health and Human Services and Education programs. (Labor-HHS bill, p. 3480)
The Senate had been expected to take up the Transportation bill last week, but a crowded schedule, including a vote on the farm bill (HR 2419) and potential discussion of a package (HR 4156) to temporarily fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, left little room for debate on the Transportation-HUD bill. Because of the measure’s cost and the number of earmarks, some opposition was expected to slow progress on the bill in the Senate. (Farm bill, p. 3488; war funding bill, p. 3482)
House Republicans, protesting that they had less than 24 hours to see the text of the report and that $24 million in earmarks was added at the last minute, tried to delay consideration of the conference report with a series procedural motions, which were rejected.
Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said the 534-page conference report contained 141 pages of earmarks, including 21 that were in neither the House nor the Senate bill but were “airdropped” into the measure during conference negotiations.
“You have to be suspicious about why in the world we waited until now to airdrop these earmarks in when nobody can challenge them,” Flake said. New Senate rules allow members to raise a point of order to strike such provisions from conference reports, but no similar rule exists in the House.
Among the largest of the earmarks added in conference is $7.7 million requested by Republican Sen. Thad Cochran for a highway project in his home state of Mississippi, and $5 million for a Seattle airport runway project sought by Democratic Sen. Patty Murray of Washington, Flake said.
“The new majority just doesn’t seem to get it,” Flake said as he rattled off the list of earmarks. “They came to power by criticizing Republican abuses and were justified in doing so. But now they are committing the same abuses.”
Some lawmakers estimated that the bill contained more than 2,000 earmarks, although there was no official count.
The bill would provide $51 billion in discretionary spending — $4.3 billion more than was enacted last year and $3 billion more than Bush requested.
The conference report includes language that would increase the mandatory retirement age for airline pilots from 60 to 65, handing commercial airline pilots a victory they have sought for decades.
Under current law, pilots forced to retire at age 60 could not retain their former seniority if they were re-employed — a provision some believed was necessary to prevent lawsuits over lost seniority. Among commercial airline pilots, seniority is a significant edge that brings better routes on larger planes and higher salaries, among other benefits.
The conference report does not include a provision in the House-passed bill that would have prevented the Federal Aviation Administration from eliminating or consolidating air traffic control facilities.
The FAA had circulated a list of dozens of air traffic centers around the country that were under consideration for closure or consolidation, touching off dissatisfaction among lawmakers in affected areas.
Bridge Repairs
The bill would grant $1 billion to states for bridge repairs, a response to the collapse Aug. 1 of an interstate highway bridge in Minneapolis. Instead of designating the money as a regular appropriation, the provision would raise the amount states could obligate from the Highway Trust Fund. It also includes $195 million for replacing the Minneapolis bridge.
The agreement would provide $40.2 billion for other highway programs, which is $631 million more than Bush requested; $9.65 billion for transit programs, or $227 million more than sought; and $14.6 billion for the FAA, which is $556 million more than the request.
The bill would appropriate $1.4 billion for Amtrak, which is $550 million more than the president’s request. The Senate passed a six-year, $11.4 billion Amtrak reauthorization bill (S 294) last month, but it is unclear whether the House will get to it this year. (Amtrak bill, CQ Weekly, p. 3338)
The spending bill would provide $38.7 billion for the Housing and Urban Development Department, or $3.1 billion more than requested. It includes $3.8 billion for community development block grants, rejecting Bush’s call to cut the program by $822 million.
Appropriators also rejected the administration’s request to eliminate funding for HOPE VI, the public-housing replacement program. HOPE VI would receive $120 million, which is $21 million more than enacted last year.