In the final hours of 2007, Congress rushed to pass a budget
bill that has been pending for three months. It rolled 11
appropriations bills plus supplemental war funds into one bill,
creating a massive vehicle loaded with pork, gimmicks, excessive
spending, and bad policy. Congress barely took the time to
contemplate the consequences of this bill before voting and leaving
town. Although some questionable provisions were removed, including
several policy riders such as expansion of the Davis-Bacon Act, the
biggest spending bill of all time still passed with major
problems.
1. No one read the bill.
The text of the omnibus was 3,417 pages--three times the length
of the Bible and nearly the same length as the second edition of
Webster's Dictionary. The House passed the bill less than 22 hours
after the text was first made available, while the Senate had 46
hours and 8 minutes for its analysis. For Members of Congress to
have read this bill, they would have had to read the bill at a rate
of 2½ pages per minute for Representatives and 1¼
pages per minute for Senators, without stopping to sleep or eat. No
one could have read this bill before voting on it.
2. Non-emergency emergencies drove up
spending.
Because money designated as "emergency spending" is not counted
against total spending numbers in the budget, Congress classified
over $11 billion as "emergency" spending in order to avoid budget
constraints. However, almost none of this spending is in response
to true sudden, unforeseen, and urgent emergencies. For instance,
the bill includes as emergency spending:
- $100 million for security at the upcoming political conventions
even though it is widely known that presidential elections happen
every four years; and
- $602 million for crop disaster assistance and livestock
assistance despite the fact that farmers had record incomes last
year.
3. Border security is threatened.
While superficially providing additional funding for a border
fence, the omnibus threatens border security by making a fence more
difficult to build. The bill creates 15 bureaucratic hurdles that
must be overcome prior to construction, including a requirement
that interest groups and environmental groups be consulted about
the impact the fence would have on "quality of life." In so doing,
the omnibus makes securing the border more difficult.
4. Energy production is
threatened.
The bill prohibits funding for development of oil shale
regulations by federal agencies, which makes commercial production
of the United States' 2 trillion barrels of oil shale resources
impossible. By restricting the supply of domestic oil, this bill
increases dependence on other nations to meet domestic energy
needs.[1]
5. Excessive regulation burdens
chemical plants.
The omnibus grants authority for state and local governments to
pass laws regulating security at chemical plants that go beyond
federal codes. Though these measures were added under the guise of
national security, they will likely result in overregulation of the
chemical industry. A 2006 law is already in place to secure
high-risk plants, making this rider an excessive burden that will
hinder the economy more than it will help security.[2]
6. The omnibus is larded with
pork.
In passing this bill, Congress officially broke its pledge to
cut the number of earmarks, or pork projects, in half from the 2005
peak of 13,492. Before considering the omnibus, Congress had
already passed 2,161 earmarks in the defense appropriations bill,
and the omnibus added more than 9,000 earmarks totaling more than
$23 billion. Examples of egregious earmarks include:
- The Charles Rangel "Monument to Me" ($1.95 million),
- Rodent control in Alaska ($113,000),
- Olive fruit fly research in France ($213,000), and
- A river walk in Massachusetts ($1 million).
The President has indicated that he will work with Office of
Management and Budget Director Jim Nussle to identify options for
the Administration to address earmarks and help Congress meet its
pledge to cut the number of earmarks in half. This is an important
and encouraging step, and there are several options that should be
considered in this process.[3]
7. The omnibus funds corporate
welfare.
The Advanced Technology Program, which provides research grants
to mostly Fortune 500 companies including IBM, 3M, and
General Electric, received $65 million in the omnibus. This funding
was awarded despite the fact that Congress actually de-authorized
the program earlier this year.
8. The omnibus uses budget gimmicks to
obscure spending.
The bill employs $13.2 billion in gimmicks, such as advanced
appropriations and rescissions, to artificially lower its total
cost.[4] On top of the spending (and gimmicks) that
already passed in the defense appropriations bill, non-war-related
discretionary spending will reach an estimated $952 billion this
year, which is nearly as much as what Democrats originally proposed
before Bush threatened to veto anything that exceeded his top line
of $932 billion.[5]
9. Misplaced priorities are rife.
Comparing items that Congress did not fund to those that it did
calls into question Congress's priorities. For instance, funding
for security projects such as nuclear weapons modernization (for
which $89 million was requested) was cut, while money was given to
such projects as:
- $20 million increase for the National Endowment of the
Arts,
- $3.7 million in non-competitive grants to the AFL-CIO,
and
- $16 million for a new House office building although the House
already has four office buildings and the Capitol Visitors Center
has not been completed.
10. Total spending blows all budget
caps.
With all the budget gimmicks, "emergency" spending, and other
tricks, this bill exceeds the President's top line by more than $20
billion. This is not an insignificant sum: It is equal to the
entire federal personal income tax liability for the states of
Iowa, New Hampshire, New Mexico, West Virginia, and Delaware
combined. At $225 per household, families would have to cut a
quarter of their Christmas budget to fund it.[6]
Conclusion
The President threatened to veto any spending above his budget.
Congress's gimmicks enabled the omnibus to superficially meet that
target and so he will sign it. But that's not the end of the
story--the Administration should vigorously pursue options to rein
in the excessive earmarks from the bill. The President has
indicated he will take that step. Doing so would be a big
improvement upon a bill that is $20 billion over budget and a
serious breach of the new leadership's promise to return to fiscal
responsibility.
Chart: Congress Brushes Off $20 Billion as 'Table
Scraps'
Nicola Moore is Research Coordinator
for the Thomas A. Roe Institute for Economic Policy Studies at The
Heritage Foundation.