November 2006
Volume 5, Number 8
Inside this Issue:
Election Changes Capitol Hill Dynamics
Lame Duck Session Agenda
Federal Prevention Funding For FY 2007 at Risk -- TAKE ACTION
Election Changes Capitol Hill Dynamics
As all have likely heard by now, the November 7th elections greatly shifted the power structure on Capitol Hill. Beginning in January -- for the first time in twelve years -- Democrats will control both houses of Congress. Election Day exit polls show that voters ranked dissatisfaction with the war in Iraq and high-profile congressional scandals (read: Abramoff and Foley) -- two issues that strongly favored Democrats this year - as top motivating factors for determining how they would vote. The economy also ranked high in exit polls.
The battle for Congress was bitterly fought, with both parties relying heavily on negative ads and often vitriolic criticisms of their opponents. Despite harsh words used on the campaign trail, President Bush and Democratic leaders in the House and Senate have all called for bipartisanship in the 110th Congress. In the days following the election, the President sat down with Democratic leaders to discuss priorities for 2007 and to begin to identify areas of common ground. But with the 2008 presidential election looming, the window for bipartisan policymaking could be small.
The Election’s Impact on Prevention Priorities
It is not yet clear what impact the House and Senate power shifts will have on child maltreatment prevention priorities. Changes in leadership, committee assignments, and key staff are beginning to take shape but will not be fully realized till early next year. In addition, many incoming Representatives and Senators are still relatively unknown, although some pundits have been quick to note the diversity of the newly elected class in terms of viewpoint, background, and experience.
What we do know is that the party now in power on Capitol Hill has been playing defense for several years and has a long list of priorities to put forward in the new session. Logjams at the subcommittee and committee levels can be anticipated in the coming year. With your help, Prevent Child Abuse America will continue building bipartisan support for prevention priorities with the goal of breaking through the logjam of competing interests.
Dems Hold Slim Lead in Senate
In the 110th Congress, Democrats will hold a razor-thin majority of 51* to 49 in the Senate. Democrats will set the Senate floor and committee agendas and will hold a one-seat majority on Senate committees. But Senate Democrats will have to reach across the aisle if they are to have any legislative success in the 110th Congress. While majority rules in the House, any Senator can indefinitely halt floor activity -- and potentially kill legislation -- through a filibuster. It requires 60 votes to break a filibuster, which means that incoming Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will have to work hard to build consensus within his own caucus while garnering support from at least nine Republicans for most legislation to make it out of the Senate.
Although the 109th Congress is still underway, the first order of business for Senators in the 110th Congress has already been taken care of -- leadership votes. Senate Democrats elected their leaders on November 14th. Republicans voted for their leaders on November 15th. The next order of business will be making committee assignments. Democratic leaders have announced tentative assignments and Republican assignments should be forthcoming.
*These numbers include Independents who will caucus with the Democrats.
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Senate Leadership for the 110th Congress
Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV)
Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL)
Democratic Policy Committee Chair Byron Dorgan (D-ND)
Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Chair Chuck Schumer (D-NY)
Democratic Conference Secretary Patty Murray (D-WA)
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY)
Minority Whip Trent Lott (R-MS)
Republican Conference Chair Jon Kyl (R-AZ)
Republican Policy Committee Chair Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX)
Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee John Ensign (R-NV) | |
Dems Hold More Comfortable Margin in House
As of this writing, Democrats hold a 34 seat majority in the House for the 110th Congress (231* Democrats, 197 Republicans); however, seven House races are still too close to call. Like in the Senate, Democrats will set the House floor and committee agendas. Since majority generally rules in the House, Democratic leaders should have a considerably easier time advancing their priorities than their Senate counterparts. Still, leadership will be challenged to hold together an increasingly politically diverse caucus -- many of the newly elected Representatives hail from traditionally Republican districts and ran as moderate/conservative Democrats. We may see these folks clash with the more liberal members of their caucus.
Representatives of the 110th Congress are holding leadership elections this week. Democrats elected their leaders on November 16th. Democrats unanimously endorsed Representative Nancy Pelosi (D-CA-8) as Speaker of the House, making her the first woman to hold that position. Democrats also unanimously elected Representative James Clyburn (D-SC-6) to the Majority Whip post and Representative Rahm Emanuel (D-IL-5) as Chair of the Democratic Caucus. The real Democratic leadership contest in the House was for the number two slot -- House Majority Leader. Pelosi backed Representative John Murtha (D-PA-12) in a contentious race against current Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD-5). The Speaker-to-be suffered her first defeat when her caucus voted 149-86 for Representative Hoyer.
Meanwhile, we could see big shakeups in House Republican leadership elections scheduled for November 17th. Current Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL-14) will not run for a leadership post in the 110th Congress. Other Republican leaders have found themselves locked in battle for minority leadership posts. Current Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH-8) is running for Minority Leader and is being challenged by Representative Mike Pence (R-IN-6), chair of the Republican Study Committee (RSC), an influential coalition of conservative House Republicans. Current Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO-7) is facing a similar challenge for the Minority Whip post from RSC member Representative John Shadegg (R-AZ-3). Regardless of how the individual leadership contests play out, with 110 members and counting (vs. 43 members of a moderate Republican group), the RSC is positioning itself to be a force to be reckoned with in the next Congress.
Lame Duck Session Agenda
Members of Congress returned to Washington on November 13th for a lame-duck session to wrap up some must-pass legislation and to vote for leaders for the 110th Congress. Members are expected to recess again at the end of the week, and return the first week of December. It is unclear at this point how far into December Congress will remain in session. In addition to annual appropriations, which we’ll discuss in more detail below, following are some expected agenda items for the lame-duck session.
- A package of tax cut extensions that could include the research and development tax credit and the college tuition deduction.
- Confirmation of Robert M. Gates, the President’s pick to replace outgoing Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.
- Permanent extension of normal trade relations with Vietnam.
- Free trade agreement with Peru.
- Reauthorization of a law to deal with pandemic disease or bioterrorism.
Annual Appropriations. Congress has passed just two of their spending bills for fiscal year 2007. Federal spending not yet approved for FY 2007 is currently being covered by a resolution that allows for the continuation of federal funding to programs through November 17th. The continuing resolution (CR) provides funding at the lowest of the House-passed, the Senate-passed, or the FY 2006 funding levels. Congress is expected to pass a similar CR this week that would extend funding through December 8th. In the meantime, congressional leaders are considering several options for completing FY 2007 appropriations, including:
- Bundling the bills into a single omnibus package as they’ve done in previous years.
- Bundling the bills into several “minibus” packages.
- Passing a CR funding programs through early 2007 and letting the 110th Congress deal with it.
- Some combination of 2 and 3. As always, the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education (Labor-HHS) spending bill is expected to be the most difficult to finalize. There has been some talk of finishing all other appropriations bills and passing a CR for Labor-HHS.
Federal Prevention Funding for FY 2007 at Risk - TAKE ACTION
As reported in previous Prevention Advocates, Senate appropriators have slated the Promoting Safe and Stable Families (PSSF) discretionary program for a $14 million cut in FY 2007. If Senate appropriators have their way, PSSF discretionary funding in FY 2007 will be just $75 million -- $125 million less than authorized. Now there’s a chance the cut could end up being even deeper and that it could be accompanied by cuts to other child maltreatment prevention and social services programs.
Here’s the situation. Congress exceeded expected funding levels for the two completed FY 2007 spending bills -- Defense and Homeland Security -- by $5.3 billion, meaning that other programs may have to be cut to stay within the overall discretionary spending cap set by Congress earlier this year. Of particular concern to prevention advocates is what this development will mean for programs funded by the Labor-HHS appropriations bill, including the PSSF discretionary program, the Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act (CAPTA), and the Social Services Block Grant (SSBG).
It is unclear how Congress will address this issue. One option is to institute an across-the-board cut on the nine remaining spending bills. Congress has been a fan of across-the-board cuts, having implemented them every year for the past four years. This solution is particularly problematic for programs that have already been slated for cuts in FY 2007, such as PSSF. Another option is for Congress to add $5.3 billion in “emergency” spending thereby exempting it from the cap. Prevent Child Abuse America is closely monitoring the situation and will press for a solution that protects child maltreatment prevention funding.
Take Action: Prevent Child Abuse America has alerts and sample messages to Congress on CAPTA, PSSF, and SSBG posted on our Legislative Action Center. Be sure to visit our website for talking points on appropriations, or to e-mail your members of Congress and ask them to protect programs that help prevent child abuse and neglect.
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Budget Cap Background
Congress was unable to pass a budget resolution this year, but instead “deemed” an overall discretionary spending cap of $873 billion for FY 2007 matching the amount proposed by the President in his budget request. That $873 billion was then divided up among the appropriations subcommittees. House appropriators allocated $141.9 billion to the Labor-HHS spending bill, while Senate appropriators allocated $142.8 billion. In both cases, Labor-HHS received an increase over the President’s budget request while maintaining the overall discretionary spending cap by shifting funding from other subcommittee allocations namely Defense. | |
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