saxman is correct, I work in the Senate:
CQ TODAY – APPROPRIATIONS: TRANSPORTATION-TREASURY-JUDICIARY-HUD
Oct. 20, 2005 – 10:20 p.m.
Transportation-Treasury-Judiciary-HUD Appropriations: Spending Bill Heads to Conference With Cuba, Amtrak, Outsourcing on the Table
By Kathryn A. Wolfe, CQ Staff
The Senate passed a $141.6 billion spending bill on Thursday that would fund transportation, housing programs and a range of other government operations.
Evan Bayh, D-Ind., was the lone dissenter in the 93-1 vote; his office could not be reached for comment.
The Senate took action on its fiscal 2006 Transportation-Treasury-Judiciary-HUD appropriations bill (HR 3058) after a series of amendments that highlighted growing tension between fiscal conservatives and congressional leaders over budget constraints exacerbated by the war in Iraq and recent Gulf Coast hurricanes (Stories, pp. 1, 3)
Lawmakers also used the sweeping bill as an opportunity to stop funding the long-running special counsel investigating Henry G. Cisneros, the secretary of Housing and Urban Development under President Bill Clinton.
Cisneros, who pleaded guilty in 1999 to a misdemeanor charge of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation about payments he made to a woman with whom he was having an affair, has been under investigation since 1995. Clinton pardoned him in 2001, on his last day in office.
The bipartisan amendment was added by voice vote. It would prohibit any funds from being used to fund the investigation, and also would compel the special counsel to release his final report.
The vote was a victory for Democrats, who have sought in the past to end the special counsel investigation, calling it costly and unnecessary. The investigation has cost nearly $21 million, according to Sen. Byron L. Dorgan, D-N.D.
Dorgan was set to offer another amendment that would have lifted the current prohibition on allowing Americans to travel to Cuba. But he withdrew it when Sen. John Ensign, R-Nev., offered a second-degree amendment to Dorgan’s amendment that would toughen abortion laws.
In 2003, the Senate voted for the first time to lift the ban on traveling to Cuba, but the language — which perennially draws a veto threat from the White House, as is the case this year — was stripped out when the bill was conferenced with the House.
Though Dorgan withdrew his travel ban amendment, the underlying bill still contains language that would allow more agricultural exports to the communist nation.
The White House has threatened to veto the bill if it weakens sanctions on Cuba. However, lawmakers are likely to remove the language during conference, as has been the case in past years. The White House has also said the bill is too expensive.
Northeastern lawmakers failed to win $3.1 billion more for a low income-heating program. The amendment to boost funds for the federal Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program was rejected, 53-46, when lawmakers failed to waive the Budget Act, which requires 60 votes in the Senate.
The bill now heads to conference with the House; the two versions have significant differences to overcome, including top-line numbers. The House bill weighs in at $139.1 billion, compared to the Senate’s $141.6 billion measure. Both bills include District of Columbia spending; the Senate added $593 million for the city to its bill this week.
Along with general funding, another big point of contention between the two chambers will likely be over how to fund Amtrak, the nation’s ailing passenger rail system. The Senate bill would appropriate $1.45 billion for Amtrak, while the House bill would appropriate $1.18 billion.
Another issue awaiting negotiation is language in both bills that would hamper the implementation of a 2003 Office of Management and Budget rule allowing outsourcing of hundreds of thousands of federal jobs. The House bill would block the agency from implementing the rule, while the Senate bill would require contractors represent at least $10 million or 10 percent savings.
Both bills reject President Bush’s plan to merge Community Development Block Grant formula grants with 17 other grant programs; the administration wants to cut funding by a combined total of $1.6 billion.
