12/15/05 Budget work completion?

12/15/05 Budget work completion?

Congress continues work in attempts to reconcile differences in each chamber's proposed fiscal year 2006 federal budget and its various components. The latest component to reach agreement among House and Senate negotiators was a $142 billion dollar budget for health and education, including the addition of $90 million dollars for rural health and health education programs. Ten of eleven budget components have been approved. But that final aspect of the federal budget may provide a stumbling block for completion by the end of the year. It is the federal budget for the Department of Defense. So what does defense have to do with spending for agriculture and rural areas? Several measures will be rolled into the Defense budget appropriations, including emergency spending for hurricane and drought relief, avian influence preventions, and those talked about deficit reductions proposed by both sides of Congress. The House approved $50 billion dollars in cuts for the next five years, while the Senate version calls for $35 billion in cuts during that same time period. Talk from Washington D.C. insiders is the budget reconciliation joint conference committee is looking at $45 billion in cuts as the number for compromise. There are still sticking points such as the amount of reductions for food stamps, and whether or not to conduct exploratory drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. But officially, there is not yet any word if budget negotiators will reach a deal by Congress's target date for adjournment for the year, December 20th. Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell of Kentucky is hopeful, but not positive, a budget deal can be reached by the end of the year. MCCONNELL: Well, I certainly hope we're going to be able to resolve it before Christmas. It would be the first genuine reduction bill we've passed in the last eight years. Given the size of the federal deficit, it's something we need to do. One indicator whether Congress will reach full budget reconciliation before Christmas could come Saturday. That is when the current temporary funding plan for the fiscal year 2005 budget expires. So either Congress will adopt full budget reconciliation before hand, or if another temporary extension is given, may wait until after the first of the year to finish work on the budget. American Farm Bureau Federation analyst Pat Wolff says realistically there isn't much time for Congress to get work finished. WOLFF: It's up in the air whether they'll be able to finish before the end of the year. A sign that it might not happen is the House now is starting to pass some of their provisions as free-standing bills, so they could take them up one at a time, instead of trying to negotiate them as part of a big package.
Previous Report12/14/05 Addressing ag energy, Part two
Next Report12/16/05 Hong Kong update