Republicans in the Senate defying Bush

Senate Republicans are largely defying President Bush in what is shaping up as the most confrontational spending battle in more than a decade.

With the budget debate set to escalate this month, GOP senators are expected to side with Democrats in voting for spending bills that Bush has promised to veto, as they have done overwhelmingly so far. By contrast, the House GOP has vowed to sustain Bush’s promised vetoes of most of the 12 annual funding measures, having largely voted against spending plans that have exceeded the president’s request.

{mosads}In some ways, the current debate mirrors the 1995 battle between President Bill Clinton and the Republican-led Congress that shut down the federal government. That fight over funding levels pitted the House GOP against a Democratic White House, while many Senate Republicans were skeptical of a confrontation. As in 1995, House and Senate leadership have taken different tacks in the debate.

Rep. John Boehner of Ohio, the House Republican leader, did not vote for 10 of the 12 spending bills that passed the lower chamber this year. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) voted for the four spending bills that passed the chamber, and for all 12 bills when they were marked up in the Appropriations Committee, where he sits. This month, the Senate is expected to take up at least three more bills, two of which face veto threats.

Unlike 1995, however, few want to risk a government shutdown and suffer the same bruising backlash that House Republicans received nearly 12 years ago.

“I think you’ll find that the distaste that the public had was so great that it will not happen again,” said Rep. Joe Sestak (D-Pa.), who served in the Clinton White House’s National Security Council at the time of the shutdown.

Leon Panetta, who was Clinton’s chief of staff at the time, said the debate will ultimately shake out after Nov. 16, when the current stopgap resolution to keep the government operating expires.

“It’s from November on you’ll really see who’s going to blink,” Panetta said.

Democrats are proposing to spend about $23 billion more overall than what the White House wants, mostly on domestic programs. Bush calls the spending excessive and says he will veto any bill that exceeds his request, while Democrats say they are justified in spending more on under-funded domestic programs, especially in light of the billions being spent in Iraq.

The three appropriations bills coming up in the next few weeks are the defense appropriations bill, which hits the floor Tuesday; a spending bill that would fund commerce, justice and science programs; and a measure to fund the departments of Labor and Health and Human Services (HHS). The $606 billion Labor-HHS bill exceeds Bush’s request and would likely draw a veto, as would the $55 billion commerce, justice and science bill, which tops Bush’s request by over $2 billion.

Senate Republicans have been eager for this fall’s budget debate, which offers them an opportunity to burnish their fiscal-conservative credentials and distinguish themselves from Democrats on spending while deflecting attention away from an unpopular war and several scandals involving their colleagues.

But so far, the votes show that McConnell and his conference are blurring the distinctions they have been trying to draw with Democrats on spending.

The Senate this year has approved four fiscal 2008 spending bills: foreign operations; military construction and veterans’ affairs; homeland security; and transportation. Bush says he will veto all the bills except for the veterans’ affairs measure.

The $34 billion foreign operations bill passed the Senate 81-12, with 35 of the 49 Republicans voting in favor. The $40 billion homeland security funding bill was approved 89-4, with 41 Republicans voting in favor. Forty Republicans joined 46 Democrats in voting for the $105 billion bill that funds the departments of Transportation and Housing and Urban Development.

In the House, however, 150 Republicans voted against homeland security funding, while 152 Republicans voted against the transportation bill and 164 voted against foreign operations. Boehner voted against all of them, while McConnell voted for the Senate versions.

The Senate GOP positions have drawn ire from some conservatives.

“If Republicans want to convince taxpayers that they are fiscally responsible, they are going to have to start backing up their words with some votes,” said former Rep. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.), president of the Club for Growth.

Don Stewart, a spokesman for McConnell, said the senator wants top-line spending to be constrained. He also said McConnell’s votes in committee do not necessarily translate into “yes” votes on the floor because Democrats have repeatedly attempted to attach “extraneous” amendments to bills on the floor.

“A lot of it has to do with floor action,” Stewart said. “Getting on the bill and getting off the floor are different matters.”

Even as Senate Republicans have come to their side, Democrats are opening the door for fresh GOP attacks on the management of the appropriations process. As of Monday, the first day of fiscal 2008, none of the 12 appropriations bills had become law. Congress was forced to pass a stopgap resolution to keep the government operating.

Congress rarely finishes its appropriations bills on time, but the GOP is eager to attack Democrats for bungling the process, much like Democrats did to them when they were in charge.

“Right now, I think Republicans are in a strong position,” said Ryan Loskarn, a spokesman for the Senate Republican Conference. “All the quotes [Democrats] gave last fall ripping us to shreds are coming back to bite them.”

If Democrats ultimately decide to cobble the bills into one massive omnibus appropriations bill, Republicans say both the House and Senate GOP would rally in opposition to the plan. The GOP conference also is backing a bill by fiscal conservative Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) to keep the government operating if Congress cannot pass the funding measures.

However, Democrats and their allies say the Senate GOP votes show that there is a realization that more domestic funding is needed.

“The whole agenda in America is moving to what we have been professing for a while,” said Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.).