Though the escalating standoff between the White
House and Congress over a supplemental spending bill has so far
garnered all the media's attention, Washington insiders say the House and
Senate budget resolutions are worthy of notice.
Not only do the proposals include enforcement
mechanisms to keep mandatory spending and tax cuts from crowding out
discretionary programs such as education, they also would enable lawmakers to
increase spending for schools in 2008.
"We are wildly happy with this budget
resolution," said Diane Shust, the National
Education Association's director of government relations.
"It is certainly superior to what we've had in the past."
Both resolutions, H. Con. Res.
99 and S.
Con. Res. 21, call for considerable increases in domestic spending, thereby
making more room in the budget for education.
Though Democrats faced many of the same fiscal
constraints and internal party disputes that hamstrung the previous Congress,
they were able to secure enough support to clear resolutions through both
chambers before breaking the April 1 spring recess. Hill staffers are beginning
to compare their competing plans in anticipation for conference negotiations
that could start as early as next week.
Spending limits
The budget resolution is significant because it
sets the framework for the year's congressional tax and spending decisions.
Both budgets reflect an intention to invest more
in education programs. The Senate's supplementary materials suggest the Education Department deserves $62.3
billion. While the House did not detail an amount for ED, it suggested that
education and training programs categorized as "Function 500" should
receive $8 billion more than President Bush would give them.
Stakeholders, however, might be disappointed to
learn the proposals are merely advisory and do not oblige appropriators to
follow the advice.
"I don't think it carries much weight at
all," James Horney, the Center on
Budget and Policy Priorities' director of federal fiscal policy, said
of the suggestions.
What matters is how all the spending
recommendations add up. The resolution limits how much Congress can spend in
total in any given year.
"The only real power of the budget resolution
is to set the discretionary cap," said Brian Riedl, budget analyst
for the Heritage Foundation. The Appropriations
committees would still able to allocate funds "however they wish as long
as they stay under total discretionary caps."
The Senate would raise Bush's proposed $930
billion spending cap by $12.5 billion and assume policy changes to effectively
raise Bush's cap by a total of $19 billion. Though the House did not specify a
cap on spending in its legislative language, its accompanying tables assume
Congress will spend $955 billion in fiscal year 2008 -- raising the ante $25
billion above Bush's limit. Furthermore, the House would direct the increase to
domestic spending.
"It's a great first step," said Deborah
Rigsby, National School Boards
Association's director of federal legislation, adding that she hopes
appropriators will follow the same direction.