|
To Members of the NASULGC System:
- Board on Agriculture Assembly
- Budget and Advocacy Committee
- Council on Agricultural
Research, Extension, and Teaching
- Council on Governmental Affairs
Procedural News:
House to Forgo Earmarks for Now. On May 22, House
Appropriations Chair David Obey (D-WI) announced that he "would
not include earmarks in appropriations bills until they reach
conference [with the Senate]." According to an article in
Roll Call:
|
"[This action is necessary] because
of the delay of the deadline for earmark requests...
along with the crush of business the committee has
dealt with since the beginning of the year, the
spending panel has not had time to fully vet each
earmark. 'We’ve been a little busy, first off,
dealing with last year’s mess' and with the war,
Obey said.
Obey said by waiting until conference reports, he
will have more time to make sure abusive,
embarrassing earmarks do not make the final cut.
'It’s my job to protect the committee,' he said. Any
such earmarks dropped into the conference report
will comply with House disclosure rules, Obey
promised. 'If we choose to insert earmarks in
conference, it will be under the rules that require
every one to be inserted by name,' he said." |
House Markups Begin. Just
before the Memorial Day congressional recess, the House of
Representatives took the first steps in the appropriations
process by approving four appropriations bills in their
respective subcommittees. As set forth in the following
table, the House has established a tentative schedule to
complete action on 11 of its 12 bills:
| Bill |
Subcommittee |
Full
Committee |
Floor |
| Homeland Security |
05-18 |
06-05 |
06-12 |
| Military Construction
- Veterans |
05-22 |
06-06 |
06-13 |
| Energy and Water |
05-23 |
06-06 |
06-13 |
| Interior |
05-23 |
06-07 |
06-14 &
06-15 |
| Financial Services |
06-05 |
06-11 |
06-18 |
| State - Foreign
Operations |
06-05 |
06-11 |
06-20 |
| Legislative Branch |
06-06 |
06-12 |
06-19 |
| Labor - HHS |
06-07 |
06-14 |
06-21 &
06-22 |
| Commerce, Justice,
State |
06-08 |
06-18 |
06-26 &
06-27 |
| Transportation and HUD |
06-08 |
06-18 |
06-25 |
| Agriculture |
06-12 |
06-21 |
06-28 &
06-29 |
| Defense |
? |
? |
? |
The Senate has not made any
announcements about their schedule. Generally, the
Senate begins its markups after each bill has passed the
House.
Agriculture
Appropriations News:
F.Y. 2008 House 302(b) Allocations. In preparation
for work on the F.Y. 2008 appropriations bills,
each of the 12 subcommittees must receive an allocation
(limitation) specifying the maximum they can spend. The
House 302(b) allocations have been circulated prior to full
committee ratification, which is expected on June 5. (See
link below.)
The 302(b) for the Agriculture Subcommittee for F.Y. 2008 is
$18.825 billion, an increase of $1.050 billion over the F.Y.
2007 level. However, this increase is deceptive.
Each year the subcommittee captures several hundred million
dollars from Farm Bill programs that are used to make up for
shortages in the subcommittee's allocation. This year, that
process will be much less likely to occur because most farm
bill programs expire on September 30, thereby denying the
subcommittee the ability to obtain funds to spend elsewhere.
In addition (and as in previous years), the subcommittee
will face unavoidable increases in pay costs that rise
annually. Typically, these average two to three percent.
Combined with what are considered very likely increases that
Chairwoman Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) will want to make in agencies
such as the Food Safety and Inspection Service and the Food
and Drug Administration, the allocation the
subcommittee received may not equate into additional
resources for many other programs.
Link - House 302(b) Allocations:
http://www.nasulgc-bac.com/documents/FY2008/House302b.pdf
The Cornerstone Team
|
