Washington Insider

Extract

House and Senate Budgetary Committees are set to soon unveil allocations for 13 appropriations subcommittees for the discretionary portion of federal spending. In an election year, and with the national debt reaching previously unfathomed depths, experts do not expect much in the way of non-defense discretionary spending. In the House, presumably any proposed increases will have to be hashed out, perhaps leaving the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) out in the cold. Experts expect that if the NEA and NEH are left out that increases will be proposed on the floor for the agencies. Congress is looking for myriad solutions to quickly appropriate funds for FY2005. Among these are potential proposal is one to present an early, full omnibus bill and one to group the 13 appropriation bills into three or four “mini-omnibus” bills. Proposals akin to that offered this year for NEH funding would appear much more difficult to secure this year.