CQ TODAY
Nov. 9, 2005 - Updated 2:45 p.m.
GOP Leaders May Drop ANWR to Muster Majority for Budget Savings Bill
By Steven T. Dennis and Liriel Higa, CQ Staff
House GOP leaders are engaged in a massive haggling campaign aimed at
nailing down enough votes to pass their budget savings package Thursday.
They appear likely to drop a provision opening Alaska's Arctic National
Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling and make other changes in an attempt to win
the votes of reluctant moderates.
Following a meeting of the Republican Conference Wednesday morning that had
pep-rally overtones, moderates continued to hold their ground on ANWR.
Charles Bass, R-N.H., one of the leaders of the Tuesday Group of moderate
Republicans, maintained that the drilling provision must come out of the
bill (HR 4241
<javascript:simplePopup('displaybillcard.do?billNumber=HR4241&congress=1
09&prod=4','billCard',680,430);> ) or it will fail.
"We're not going to consider voting for it unless ANWR is out," Bass said.
Although members of leadership have floated the idea of boosting automobile
fuel efficiency standards if moderates would agree to retain the ANWR
provision, Bass said he did not see how that would be successful. Bass and
some other ANWR critics oppose raising gas mileage requirements for cars and
trucks.
Bass said he does not object to the overall size of the savings package, but
many other moderates do. They want a savings number closer to the $35
billion package the Senate passed Nov. 3 (S 1932
<javascript:simplePopup('displaybillcard.do?billNumber=S1932&congress=10
9&prod=4','billCard',680,430);> ) than to the House's $54 billion
budget-cutting plan.
Michael N. Castle, R-Del., another leader of the moderate group, said that
removal of the provision to allow oil drilling in ANWR is just "the starting
point" for the moderates' ongoing negotiations with leadership.
Many in the group would still vote against the package unless cuts to social
programs are reduced, Castle said. "They are the usual suspects - food
stamps, foster care, child support, all the things you've been writing
about," he said.
The bill would cut $844 million from food stamps and $4.9 billion from child
support enforcement, while also reducing funds for foster care and cutting
Medicaid.
Jim Leach, R-Iowa, said the overall balance of the plan troubles him,
including cuts to student loans. And ANWR is an absolute dealbreaker, he
said.
Sherwood Boehlert, R-N.Y., said the bill should provide more money for home
heating subsidies and to restore a milk subsidy program that lapsed Sept.
30.
Moderates dislike cuts to programs that help "those who are the most
disadvantaged at a time when the need is growing and we're providing tax
advantages to people when profits are soaring," Boehlert said. In
particular, he pointed to tax breaks for Exxon Mobil at a time when the
company could record $35 billion in profits over the next year.
Another provision causing headaches for leadership would repeal the
so-called Byrd amendment. Named after its author, Sen. Robert C. Byrd,
D-W.Va., that measure sends trade dumping penalties to aggrieved U.S.
companies. Its repeal, demanded by other nations, would funnel all penalties
to the Treasury, producing about $3.2 billion in federal revenues.
Rules Meeting Critical
House Majority Leader Roy Blunt, R-Mo., left the door open to removing ANWR
when the Rules Committee meets late Wednesday.
"We'll just have to see how things develop later today, and what is the most
helpful thing for this bill," Blunt said.
Some House members, such as Energy and Commerce Chairman Joe L. Barton,
R-Texas, have warned that they will not vote for the bill unless ANWR is
included.But other conservatives have signaled that they would vote for the
bill even if ANWR drilling is removed.
"Whether ANWR's in or not, I'm going to support the plan," said Jeb
Hensarling, R-Texas, a member of the conservative Republican Study
Committee.
And not all challenges to the bill were coming from the left. Jeff Flake,
R-Ariz., another member of the Republican Study Committee, said he would
offer an amendment to delay implementation of the new Medicare prescription
drug benefit - now set to take effect Jan. 1 - by one year. It is unlikely
that the Rules Committee will allow such an amendment. President Bush has
threatened to veto any bill that changes the drug benefit.
House Rules Committee Chairman David Dreier, R-Calif., would not rule out
other changes to the reconciliation measure when the committee meets late
Wednesday. "It's possible there could be some modifications to it," Dreier
said. "I can't tell what these will be."
Dreier said GOP leaders have been working to clear up "mischaracterizations
about the bill to Republicans who are still on the fence, arguing that the
savings package is not about cutting programs for the poor but about
modifying the programs to make them more efficient.
"I'm confident we're going to win this," Dreier said.
Meetings between moderates and House leaders were expected throughout the
afternoon and evening as the leadership tried to round up the votes.
Democrats, meanwhile, were holding mock hearings on the budget package
featuring people who would lose benefits under the plan. Conservative Blue
Dog Democrats have denounced the package as part of an overall
deficit-expanding deal with a companion $70 billion tax cut package, and
none are expected to vote for the package on the House floor.
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