The Senate Transportation-Treasury Appropriations Subcommittee marked up their FY '05 bill yesterday. It included $34.9 billion for the highway programs. Before the August recess, House appropriators passed a bill providing $34.6 billion for highways, which is $1 billion more than the FY '05 $33.6 billion White House request and the appropriation for highways in FY '04.
The Senate bill also included $7.75 billion for transit programs, while House appropriators allocated $7.3 billion for transit, which is almost even with the Bush administration's request and the amount provided this year. New Starts is to receive $1.47 billion in the Senate bill, exceeding the House's $1 billion earmark by nearly 50 percent. The Transportation Department requested $1.5 billion for New Starts in FY '05, and the program will receive a total of $1.3 billion this year.
We are continuing to hear that there are no earmarks for transit and highways until Conference. We are hearing that the Senate mark up included a few earmarks for FAA and research, but little else. We have not been able to confirm this, due to the fact that all materials are embargoed until after full Committee mark up. We have heard from reliable sources that the bill may be marked in Full Committee next Tuesday.
The proposed administration overtime rules were overturned this afternoon in a 223-193 vote. All Democrats and 20 Republicans joined to attach the rule to the ongoing Labor-HHS appropriations bill (HR5006).
The administration has threatened to veto the overall bill if the overtime rules were altered with. The new rules have been in effect since August 23.
Yesterday, House Republican leaders stopped consideration of the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill to allow more time to try to win over the 12 or so Republicans that they need to beat back a Democratic amendment that would stop the new administration overtime eligibility rules.
The amendment could win as many as 20 moderate, pro-labor Republicans, mostly from Northwestern and Midwestern states who represent labor constituents.
Despite the battle over the overtime rules, the bill is expected to pass the bill today. The bill as written by the House Appropriations Committee contains $142.5 billion in discretionary funding - $3.1 billion more than the amount provided for the fiscal 2004 and $202 million more than President Bush requested. The Senate hasn't taken action yet.
Most of the legislative agenda for today in the House has focused on the Labor-HHS appropriations bill. While approval of the $492.3 billion measure is significant, the most contentious measure promises to be recently enacted overtime regulations.
Democrats charge that the Bush administration and Republicans are using these new rules to restrict working Americans ability to earn overtime pay. Congressman David Obey (D-Wisconsin) will likely offer an amendment blocking the Labor Department from actively enforcing the new rules, which he contends shut out more than 6 million workers from receiving the benefit of traditional time-and-a-half overtime pay. Such language has been pushed by Democrats before, most recently in the FY04 omnibus appropriations bill. However, the language was stripped when President Bush threatened to veto any measure containing such language.
The administration maintains that current overtime rules are confusing and that the new regulations will make more than one million low-income workers eligible for overtime pay.
Yesterday, the House passed a bill (HR 5005) authorizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) $2 billion in disaster relief funds. The funds were appropriated to provide FEMA resources to cleanup and aid the areas and individuals impacted by Hurricanes Charley and Frances.
Earlier, the Senate voted to pass the measure upon House approval, moving it to the president's desk. Yet another hurricane relief bill (tackling Ivan) is expected to be taken up later this week and appended to the FY05 Homeland Security appropriations bill. Debate on said bill begins today in the Senate.
House lawmakers are preparing legislation responding to the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission report regarding aviation security. While the report criticized Congress for overspending on aviation security, to the detriment of other modes of transportation, it advised that airports be equipped with explosive detection devices. While baggage must be checked for explosives by law, airports have had difficulty acquiring the screening machines. The Transportation Security Administration has allocated $720 million to purchase the machines, whereas the estimated cost to supply all airports is $5 billion. Lawmakers involved are considering a variety of funding mechanisms, such as lease-backs and debt financing. Many airports have purchased the machines with their own funds, banking on a later reimbursement from the federal government.
Also on the plate for the Aviation Committee members are a set of recommendations from the commission regarding biometric identification, such as eye and fingerprint scanning, on passports and other identification documents. Use of such technology is highly controversial. The Aviation Committee is expected to only go as far as urging the Homeland Security Department to develop standards for biometric identification cards. Last month, the State Department sparked a debate when they chose to include facial recognition technology instead of fingerprinting for all future passports.
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released their deficit prediction today for fiscal year 2004, which ends September 30. The total number, $422 billion, will be a new all-time dollar record (not adjusted for inflation) but is $56 billion lower than the CBO predicted in January, thanks to better than expected revenue collection.
Although the figure is better than predicted earlier, the long-term deficit and debt predictions have worsened in the intervening months. The CBO now predicts in the next decade that the debt may climb by $2.3 trillion. This number is still low though, as the CBO is required by law to predict the administration's tax cuts will be phased out completely when they expire, and that the alternative minimum tax (AMT) will continue to generate large amounts of cash. Given the administration's push to renew the tax cuts and the large numbers of people who will begin to be affected by the AMT in the years ahead, it is unlikely revenue will be as high as the CBO is required to predict.
The full report is located here and is in .pdf format.
Yesterday, the World Trade Organization (WTO) authorized sanctions on the United States for failing to repeal an anti-dumping law. The "Byrd Amendment" authorized the government to reimburse manufacturers for losses sustained when foreign firms sell goods at below market values in the United States. These reimbursement are currently paid for by imposing duties on the foreign firms in question. The European Union (EU) argued successfully before the WTO in 2002 that the Byrd Amendment amounted to an illegal subsidy under WTO rules. Until today, however, the WTO had held off on imposing sanctions in response to the violation.
The sanctions are expected to cost around $144 million annually, but won't be imposed immediately as the EU is seeking to have the amendment removed by American lawmakers. This may be difficult, as the Byrd amendment has been supported in the past by a large majority of senators and representatives.
Both House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) and Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee) indicated on Sunday that they expect Congress to remain in session up to election day, November 2, in order to pass an intelligence reform package. Previously, Congress was set to adjourn October 1.