Spending bill passes; most increases small

By Alan Fram
The Associated Press

E-mail this article Print this article Search archive Most read articles Most e-mailed articles

WASHINGTON — Republicans yesterday whisked through Congress a $388 billion spending bill that underscores the dominance of deficit politics by curbing dollars for everything from education to environmental cleanups.

The House approved the measure by a bipartisan 344-51 margin, while Senate passage was by 65-30. Everyone in the Washington state delegation voted for the measure except Democratic Rep. Jay Inslee, who voted no; Democratic Rep. Brian Baird, who was present but did not vote; and Democratic Rep. Jim McDermott and Republican Rep. Jennifer Dunn, who were not present.

Senate approval took longer because of disputes over provisions dealing with abortions and members of Congress' access to income-tax returns without regard to privacy protections. Leaders agreed to not send the spending package to President Bush until the tax-returns issue is resolved in a separate bill expected to be passed by the House on Wednesday.

With spending authority for most federal agencies running out at midnight, Congress also approved stopgap legislation to keep the government running until the spending package becomes law.

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. An imposing monument, too: The bill and explanatory report, completed near midnight Friday, were about 14 inches tall, leaving many legislators baffled.

Even Bush's initiatives were not immune to cuts. 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 for countries adopting democratic practices was slashed by $1 billion.

The measure was 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 member, including mountains of home-district projects. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a bipartisan group, said it found 11,772 projects worth $15.8 billion.

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 received 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 2 percent larger than last year's versions. When foreign aid and defense spending are omitted, domestic programs grew by less than 1 percent.

To stay within the spending constraints Bush demanded, all programs in the bill eventually will be cut by at least 0.83 percent.

Resolving one last-minute fight, Senate GOP leaders agreed to give abortion-rights supporters a chance by spring to repeal language that would permit hospitals and HMOs to avoid state requirements that they offer abortion services.

The real effect of the legislation is hard to determine. Forty-five states, including Washington, already allow health-care providers to refuse to provide or pay for abortions and, because the legislation is tucked into a one-year spending bill, it would have to be renewed on an annual basis unless it's made permanent in separate legislation.

Senate GOP leaders also agreed to have the House vote Wednesday to kill the provision letting top members of Congress' Appropriations committees send people to examine income-tax returns, without any penalties should they publicly disclose them. The Senate approved legislation repealing that section last night.

The stopgap bill was reported by The Washington Post; details on the abortion provision were provided by Knight Ridder Newspapers.