Conor Kenny's News Articles

Last week saw Democratic collapses in Congress on the federal budget and the energy bill as Senate Republicans and President Bush held the line against Democratic-backed changes to federal spending and energy policy. Time, however, is running out for Congress to pass the overdue federal budget before the Christmas recess, and both sides may be looking to cut a deal.

This week: Time is running out to pass the (already overdue) federal budget (including funding for Iraq and Afghanistan), energy and climate legislation, fixing the Alternative Minimum Tax, the Farm Bill and hearings on the erased waterboarding videotapes.

The federal budget and Iraq funding:Lawmakers are quickly running out of time to pass the 2008 federal budget as the last continuing resolution (which continues funding the government at 2007 levels) will expire at the end of the week, and a looming holiday recess is fast approaching.

The House and Senate will take up an omnibus spending package this week that will contain the funding for the remaining 15 cabinet departments and other agencies comprising the federal government (the Defense Department spending bill was approved last month). Democrats – who had already reduced the amount of spending contained in the package over President Bush's budget request from $22 billion to $11 billion – are planning to sweeten the deal further by including funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The last time House Democrats offered an Iraq spending bill, they included language requiring troop reductions, with a full withdrawal complete by December 2008. That bill was defeated in the Senate, where it fell short of the 60 votes required to end debate and move to a vote.

The Democratic plan is now to get the ball rolling in the House, introducing a spending package with $30 billion in funding for Afghanistan, in a move designed to appease anti-war progressives who want to end the Iraq war but one that is ultimately fairly empty, since everyone acknowledges that the Department of Defense will likely shift that money to continue funding Iraq. The Senate will then introduce an amendment including as much as $70 billion for Iraq and Afghanistan.

By cutting the strings to withdrawal from the Iraq funding, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid hope to win over enough Republicans to override a presidential veto. However, though details of the spending package haven’t been disclosed, President Bush has already threatened to veto the measure.

It's crunch time for Congress. Coming off of their two-week Thanksgiving recess, lawmakers have a full plate on their table: 11 appropriations bills (the bulk of the federal budget) remain to be approved; energy legislation might have a shot in both chambers; warrantless wiretapping will be on the agenda; and the farm bill waits in the wings.

Appropriations
Even with high-profile, controversial subjects on the agenda in both chambers, funding the federal government will have to take front stage soon. Congress included a continuing resolution tucked in the FY08 Defense Appropriations Bill to generally fund the government at the same levels as last year, but that will expire on Dec. 14, and 11 of the 12 spending bills are still unresolved. The House and Senate approps. committees will be busy consolidating funding for 15 Cabinet departments and numerous smaller agencies, with Democratic leaders likely to push for an omnibus spending package rather than try to pass each individually.

For details on the Senate and House calenders, including committee schedules, click through below the fold.

Following a breakdown in negotiations over presidential appointees, the spectacle that is the pro forma session of Congress, as described in the Washington Post, continues this week:

Two days before Thanksgiving the Senate had a 22-second session, a fleeting moment in the life of an occasionally droning body but plenty of time for majority Democrats to keep President Bush from making "recess" appointments.

Senators have been taking turns standing sentry duty this week — just to prevent Bush from circumventing the confirmation process by immediately installing people in federal posts while the chamber is in recess. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who carried out that less than glamorous task Tuesday, is a relative newcomer, a low-ranking freshman and a senator who lives just minutes from the Capitol; he wielded his gavel before an empty chamber Tuesday, devoid of senators and even the young pages who serve as messengers.

"I'd much rather be doing this than allow the president to skirt the confirmation process in the Senate," Webb said in a statement. "This is an exercise in protecting the Constitution and our constitutional process."

The pro forma session takes advantage of Constitutional rules requiring the consent of one chamber if the other will adjourn for more than three days. If the Senate were to adjourn, the president could name people to several positions within the executive branch, as well as naming judges to the federal bench. The appointees could then serve through the remainder of Bush's term in office.

So, what to expect when Congress resumes its normal schedule on Dec. 3?