House set to pass spending cuts, delegation says

— Members of the Arkansas congressional delegation said Friday that the House was poised to pass legislation that would make spending cuts throughout the federal government. However, the bill faces an uncertain future in the Senate, highlighting the prospects of a government shutdown if no agreement is reached.

Over the course of the week, leading into the late hours Friday night, representatives debated cuts to the Amtrak train system, cuts in funding for the health-care law enacted last year, cuts to military fighting vehicles and across-the-board cuts that would reduce funding throughout the federal government.

Rep. Rick Crawford, an Arkansas Republican, said the proposed cuts were a “reasonable goal,” given what he called a tight budget climate.

“This is not pleasant,” he said, “but we’re broke.”

Although the final shape of the legislation was not clear at nightfall Friday, Arkansas Republicans said they were confident a measure would pass, resulting in $62 billion in spending cuts to the current budget.

During the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 30, the federal budget is funded at a level approved for fiscal 2010. Congress failed to pass a budget last year, so it adopted a “continuing resolution” - known in congressional parlance as a “CR” - that funds federal activities at last year’s levels through March 4.

SENATE HEAD WINDS

Passage was expected in the House, but the spending package faces considerable headwinds in the Senate. President Barack Obama has also said he would veto a bill with the dramatic cuts envisioned by House Republicans.

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio said any continuing resolution, even one that forestalls an interruption in government payments to veterans, farmers and Medicare beneficiaries for a limited time while Congress attempts to come to an agreement, must include spending reductions.

“I am not going to move any short-term CR at current levels,” Boehner said. “When I say we’re going to cut spending, read my lips, we’re going to cut spending.”

At stake is a potential shutdown of federal government. If Congress fails to pass a budget or another continuing resolution by March 4, federal operations will grind to a halt.

Rep. TimGriffin, an Arkansas Republican, said he would “absolutely not” vote for a short-term extension if it didn’t include spending cuts.

But, he said, he was confident the House would end up with a final product that would pass the Senate.

“I’m not interested in a shutdown,” he said. “I don’t think the leadership is interested in a shutdown.”

Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark., said he’s open to passing a short-term continuing resolution without any cuts, as long as it is not simply a “delaying tactic” by Democrats to keep current levels in place.

“I don’t want to see a government shutdown,” he said. “I don’t think any of my colleagues want to see a government shutdown. That didn’t work so well for Republicans in 1995.”

Crawford said worry about a shutdown is premature.

“We don’t have any idea what the Senate is going to come back with,” he said.

The situation in mid-1990s, when President Bill Clinton faced off with House Speaker Newt Gingrich over the budget, resulting in two government shutdowns, is remarkably similar to the current state of affairs, according to Steven Gillon, a history professor at the University of Oklahoma and author of The Pact: Bill Clinton, Newt Gingrich, and the Rivalry that Defined a Generation.

In 1995, like today, emboldened conservatives took control of the House and put budget cutting high on their agenda. And preceding two shutdowns in 1995 and 1996, Clinton was an incumbent who had seen his party lose footing on Capitol Hill after the first midterm elections of his presidency.

The face-off between Clinton and Gingrich resulted in two shutdowns: for six days in November 1995 and for less than a month starting in December of the same year.

Gillon said Clinton’s popularity surged after the shutdowns, largely because Gingrich made the debate personal, rather than sticking to his ideological guns.

“The fact that John Boehner is not as egocentric and as likely to make the same gaffes that Newt Gingrich did will make Obama’s job a lot harder,” he said.

FIGHTING FOR FUNDS

As House members debated, recipients of federal funding made a case for the benefits of certain programs. For example, a pending grant request by Central Arkansas Water at the U.S. Department of Interior to help pay off a $12 million land purchase in the Lake Maumelle watershed could be eliminated under as a result of the House action.

Representatives of Central Arkansas Water are urging water commissioners to lobby legislators not to cut the department’s budget.

According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors, Mayors Mark Stodola of Little Rock and Patrick Hays of North Little Rock plan to travel to Washington to push to restore funding to the Community Development BlockProgram, which would be cut in both the continuing resolution and in Obama’s 2012 budget proposal.

And the Delta Regional Authority, a federal agency that provides economic development, health and infrastructure grants in poor counties in an eight-state region that includes Arkansas, would see a 10 percent cut in its budget.

The cut would be a disappointment but not “wholly unreasonable” given the current budget environment, according to Lee Powell, chairman of the Mississippi Delta Grassroots Caucus, a group that advocates economic development projects in the Delta.

However, Powell took issue with language in the bill that would force the agency to rescind $6 million in unspent funds while allowing the Appalachian Regional Commission, a larger agency that does similar work in a 13-state region stretching from New York to Mississippi, to keep its unspent cash.

“This clearly contradicts the principle that everyone shares the pain equally and fairly,” Powell said.

Chris Masingill, chairman of the Delta Regional Authority, said he has been in contact with Office of Management and Budget officials to plan for the possibility of sending back unspent grant money.

But he was confident the agency would escape major reductions.

“We know cuts are coming,” he said. “But I feel good about how this is going to work through the Senate process.”

Front Section, Pages 3 on 02/19/2011

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