MEMBERS
CARRY SPECTER/HARKIN FUNDING FIGHT TO THE HOUSE
The House Budget
Committee will mark up its Budget Resolution this week, with floor
consideration expected next week. Efforts are underway to restore funding in
both Budget Committee and on the floor for WIA and other Labor-HHS
programs.
The House Budget
Committee will begin marking up its Budget Resolution tomorrow and it is
expected to take two days to complete. Congresswoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) has
indicated that she will offer an amendment in Budget Committee identical to the
Senate passed Specter/Harkin amendment that will increase funding for Labor,
HHS, and Education programs by $7 billion above the President’s request
level. The vote on the amendment could come as early as sometime tomorrow
afternoon.
Congresswoman
DeLauro was not able to gain a Republican cosponsor in Budget Committee for her
amendment. Her key staff told NWA that they are focusing their efforts on
gaining the support from a few key Republicans for her amendment: Rep. Connie
Mack (R-FL), Rep. Dan Lundgren (R-CA), Rep. Mario Diaz-Balart (R-FL), Rep. Jeb
Bradley (R-NH), and Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID). NWA has also learned that Rep.
Thaddeus McCotter (R-MI) has also been expressing unhappiness to constituents
with the Administration’s proposed domestic budget cuts. If you live in
one of these Members districts, please call him and express your support for
the DeLauro Amendment in Budget Committee that would restore funding for
education, health and workforce programs.
The partisan nature
of the Budget Committee will make it an uphill battle for this amendment to
succeed in Committee.
Congressman Mike
Castle (R-DE), a senior Member of the House Education and the Workforce
Committee and former Governor of Delaware, outlined to NWA in a briefing for
key Labor-HHS advocacy groups this morning his opposition to the Budget
Resolution with the current cuts to domestic programs. He plans to offer an
amendment in the House Budget Resolution next week mirroring the Senate
Specter/Harkin amendment when the bill comes to the House floor.
Castle is meeting
tonight with the influential Republican Main Street Partnership (the moderate
Republican caucus) to generate support among his Republican colleagues for his
amendment. Twenty- three Republican moderates wrote last week to Speaker
Hastert expressing their support for a 2% increase in domestic non-security
spending, levels generally in line with Castle’s proposal. However, Castle
is just beginning his effort to gain support for his amendment among House
Republicans.
Castle told NWA that
a potential threat to his amendment will be in the House Rules Committee, which
chooses the amendments that can be brought to the House floor. If the Castle
amendment is not allowed to come to the floor, Castle indicated he will vote
against the rule to block the Budget Resolution from receiving floor
consideration.
The Castle amendment
is likely to become the critical vote on the House Budget Resolution if allowed
to come to the floor. The fight will not be with the Democrats, who will likely
support the Castle amendment, but rather between the moderate and conservative
wings of the Republican party. Congressman Castle has asked for our help to
encourage Republicans to support his amendment to the Budget Resolution, which
would restore funding to FY 05 levels.
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