CHN: Congress Passes Budget Outline; President Fills in the Blanks

When Congress passed its Budget Resolution on April 27, 2009 it generally endorsed the President’s priorities.  The Budget Resolution only answers some of the year’s policy-making questions:  what, and, at least as far as the annual appropriations bottom line is concerned, how much.  Advocates were pleased with the “what” answers:  Congress committed to grapple with comprehensive health care reform and climate change, two of the President’s top priorities.  The Budget Resolution also commits Congress to many other legislative tasks, including reauthorizing child nutrition programs, making student loans cheaper by reducing the role of private lenders, and creating a home visiting program for new parents, as the President proposed.

For the most part, the Budget Resolution is silent on “how.” It sets up a “reserve fund” for health reform, for example, but that is only a place-holder for all the work to come.  Nothing is prescribed about how health coverage will be expanded, how much it will cost, or how it will be paid for.  The reserve fund will allow Congress to work out those answers in the coming months.  For health care and student loans, Congress showed its serious commitment to take action by requiring legislation to be taken up in the Senate by October 15.  Debate would be limited (no filibusters) so that the legislation can pass with a simple majority.  (For more on the road ahead for health care, see the article in this issue.)  The Budget Resolution creates a welter of reserve funds.  (See the description of reserve funds and more detail on all these place-holders)

As for “how much,” the Budget Resolution provides a total of $1.086 trillion for annual appropriations, agreeing with the President’s total recommendation for military spending and cutting his non-defense recommendation by about $10 billion, to $529.8 billion.  The Budget Resolution allows the possibility of more spending in certain areas if Congress later chooses to adopt the greater spending levels.  These “cap adjustments” include a possible additional $1.9 billion for home energy assistance (LIHEAP), $485 million more for Social Security Administration disability reviews and Supplemental Security Income redeterminations, $311 million more for HHS health care fraud and abuse control, and $50 million for Department of Labor Unemployment Insurance payment reviews.

Now, as the Appropriations Committees prepare to divide up this amount among a dozen subcommittees, the President has released the detailed version of his budget, showing proposed funding levels for each annually appropriated program.  Congress will now have the job of trying to squeeze the President’s recommendations into the smaller total they approved.

Read More

A detailed chart of human needs funding in the Obama budget