Washington week ahead: No end in sight for budget battles

By Jon H. Harsch

© Copyright Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc.

WASHINGTON, April 11 – Relief over the last-moment deal which cancelled Friday's threatened federal government shutdown is only very temporary relief. That's because the partisan warfare over the relatively minor agreement on fiscal 2011 funding very likely will be dwarfed over coming weeks by further budget battles. It's also because the deal reached remains skeletal. Details are still being worked out by staff although House and Senate votes on the resulting legislation to fund the government through Sept. 30 are planned for Wednesday or Thursday this week.

Both the House and Senate are expected to approve the deal although some lawmakers waiting to read the FY 2011 deal's details say they're not ready to indicate how they intend to vote. Some like Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind. say they don't expect the cuts to be deep enough to win their support.

 

Rep. Mike Pence, R-Ind., addressing a March 31 Tea Party rally on Capitol Hill. Photo: Agri-Pulse.

On the larger battles ahead, first, this week the House is scheduled to vote to approve the fiscal 2012 federal budget resolution proposed by House Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan, R-Wis. Ryan's proposal would include sharp spending cuts for core federal programs including Medicare and Medicaid, with overall cuts averaging some $600 billion per year over the next ten years. That compares with the hard-fought $38 billion in spending cuts agreed to in the final compromise worked out last Friday for fiscal 2011.

Next will come the battle over raising the federal debt ceiling which must be raised no later than July 8th to enable the federal government to continue borrowing to cover its debts. Treasury Secretary Geithner expects the debt ceiling to be reached around May 16 – a guarantee that dealing with this issue will be a hot topic this week and until some resolution is achieved.

Also on the troubled budget front, President Obama is expected to announce his own long-term deficit-reduction plan this week. The White House aim is to present an alternative to Ryan's budget-cutting approach which leaves Defense Department spending untouched and proposes to cut taxes although other proposals such as the Simpson-Bowles report argue that revenue increases must be part of any realistic deficit reduction plan.

Along with House and Senate floor action on budget issues, committee schedules are packed with hearings which cover a broad range of issues including last year's Dodd-Frank financial reform law, rural credit conditions, migrant farm workers, and renewable fuels. (See the selected list of congressional hearings below.)

Even while House Republicans continue their efforts to rein in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency by limiting authorities and cutting funds, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson will travel to Rosemont Elementary School in Maryland Monday to mark the 9th annual “National Healthy Schools Day.” The focus will be on EPA programs designed “to ensure that kids are breathing clean air in the places they go to learn.”

Other key events and meetings this week:

Monday, April 11

• Interior Sec. Ken Salazar delivers an energy policy address at George Washington University.

• USDA reports: Oil Crops Outlook, Rice Outlook, Cotton and Wool Outlook.