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Senate Inches Closer to Deciding Fate of FY'09 Omnibus
Thursday, March 5, 2009
5:15 PM

The Senate today inched closer to deciding the fate of a $410 billion omnibus appropriations bill (H.R. 1105) that would fund regular operations for eleven cabinet-level departments through the remainder of fiscal year (FY) 2009. The House passed H.R. 1105 late last month on a 245 to 178 vote.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) filed a motion to invoke cloture -- or end debate -- on the legislation yesterday, and will require 60 votes to be approved and clear the bill for a final vote, which requires only a simple majority (51 votes) for passage. Reid's cloture motion will ripen tomorrow morning, but a unanimous consent agreement could move the vote to this evening.




The state of play on Democratic leaders' efforts to secure 60 votes was unclear, as our call to Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin's (D-IL) office was not returned by presstime. Durbin is the chief head-counter in the Senate.

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The clock is ticking. Most federal departments are operating under a continuing resolution that expires at midnight on Friday. Thus, Congress must send President Obama a measure extending funding for these departments' operations, in one form or another, to avoid a government shutdown.

The next series of votes on amendments will begin at approximately 5:30 PM, after which Reid and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) are expected to announce an agreement on an end game.

Reid has succeeded in defeating amendments to the omnibus throughout the week that, if adopted, would have forced another vote in the House on the modified legislation to move it to Obama's desk. However, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) told Reid on Tuesday that if the Senate amends the omnibus, then she will move forward with passing a CR that runs through the rest of the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30, 2009.

If cloture is invoked tonight or tomorrow morning, then a final vote on the omnibus would likely soon follow, leaving plenty of cushion for Congress to send the bill down Pennsylvania Avenue by midnight tomorrow. Obama intends to sign the legislation.



Earmark hawk Tom Coburn (R-OK) took aim at the legislation's parochial projects during yesterday's debate, proposing to strike several spending items requested by members of Congress, including $3.8 million for redeveloping part of the old Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan.

"Out of the 7,700 earmarks, I took eleven that looked a little stinky to me, a little questionable," Coburn said. "If I had my way, I would offer an individual amendment on every earmark in this bill."

Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), who requested the ballpark redevelopment funding, defended the earmark.

"That field and that piece of the stadium are a huge magnet for economic development," Levin said. "So to preserve that field -- that field of dreams -- and to redevelop that part of the stadium's structure and the adjacent land and to use the adjacent land for retail shops, restaurants, and other commercial and entertainment attractions will bring economic activity into a distressed neighborhood and into the city of Detroit."

The other ten earmarks targeted by Coburn were:

  • $1.9 million for the Pleasure Beach Water Taxi Service Project of Connecticut

  • $238,000 for the Polynesian Voyaging Society of Hawaii

  • $380,000 to preserve and rehabilitate historic lighthouses along the Maine coast

  • $300,000 for the commemoration of the 150th anniversary of John Brown's raid on the arsenal at Harpers Ferry National Historic Park in West Virginia

  • $475,000 for the Orange County Great Park Corporation in California

  • $1.719 million for pig odor and manure management at Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa

  • $200,000 for tattoo removal in Mission Hills, California

  • $1.5 million for the California National Historic Trail Interpretive Center in Nevada

  • $5.471 million for the Harkin education grant program in Iowa

  • $380,000 for construction of recreation and fairgrounds in Kotzebue, Alaska

The Senate went on to defeat the Coburn amendment to strike the various earmarks on a 34 to 61 vote.

Today the body will vote on several pending amendments, including a proposal by Sen. John Thune (R-SD) that would transfer $400 million within the omnibus -- via an across-the-board rescission -- for the Emergency Fund for Indian Safety and Health, among other proposals.

© Copyright Capitol Hill Reports, Inc. (2009). No claim to original government works.