Nelson in thick of funding fight

WASHINGTON — As the country struggles through a severe recession, Congress is debating whether to boost spending for itself and the agencies that support it.

And Sen. Ben Nelson finds himself in the middle of the fight after taking over this year as chairman of the appropriations subcommittee in charge of the legislative branch.

That means the Nebraska Democrat has spearheaded writing the Senate bill and is responsible for shepherding it through floor debate, which started Thursday night. The House previously approved its own legislation.

Excluding House-related items, the Senate legislation totals a little more than $3.1 billion, a 3.3 percent increase over the current year’s budget. That increase is less if the one-time economic stimulus funding is counted toward this year’s spending.

Nelson described the bill he brought to the floor as an exercise in tight-fisted fiscal restraint, given that agencies included in the bill requested double-digit increases.

But several GOP Senators objected to any increase, and Sen. David Vitter, R-La., offered a motion to freeze spending at current levels.

“There are millions of American families who aren’t dealing with any increase this year in their income,” Vitter said.

Sen. Mike Johanns, R-Neb., sided with Vitter, saying he realized the bill was only a small portion of overall federal spending.

“But if you don’t start coming to grips with the debt and the deficit and earmarks and spending increases then nothing will change, and someday somebody has to pay for it,” Johanns said.

The bill provides a 4.3 percent increase for the Senate’s own operations and an 8 percent increase for the Capitol Police force and its nearly 1,800 officers.

The bill also funds the Library of Congress, the Government Accountability Office and the Government Printing Office.

Nelson noted that as governor of Nebraska he became accustomed to people calling for budget cuts while refusing to offer any specifics. Nelson invited Vitter, Johanns or any other senator to identify individual items they would like to see eliminated from the bill.

Nelson said the Congressional Budget Office provides important analysis of sweeping proposals related to health care, energy and the financial sector, the GAO produces a stream of reports that ultimately save taxpayers money and Capitol police officers keep the place safe.

The bill includes money to operate the new Capitol Visitor Center, Nelson said.

“If they want to close the Visitor Center, make that recommendation,” Nelson said.

Johanns said it should be up to those serving on the committee to make those hard choices.

Vitter’s motion was defeated 65-31. Senators will resume consideration of the bill when they return from the Fourth of July recess.

One hot topic is likely to be the single earmark included in the bill, which was requested by Nelson.

It would provide $200,000 for digitizing and preserving the photo archive collection of the Durham Museum in Omaha. The museum has 500,000 images “reflecting the history of Omaha, Nebraska, as one of the most significant cities in the growth of our nation’s western region.”

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., said there’s no connection between the legislative spending bill and the Omaha museum other than the fact that Nelson is chairman of the committee. McCain said he doesn’t question that the museum is a “very fine place” that receives lots of visitors.

“I do question when we’re going to stop earmarking pork barrel projects because of the influence or clout of members of the United States Senate,” McCain said.

Nelson defended the earmark. He said the money only covers 10 percent of the overall cost of the project and that the Museum will provide the rest of the money.

Nelson also pointed out that the museum works with the Library of Congress.

“Not all national treasures are located inside the beltway,” Nelson said.

Nelson will have to defend the earmark without the help of his Nebraska colleague. Johanns said he plans to support McCain’s amendment.

“John McCain just doesn’t support earmarks. I don’t either. I really think it’s a broken system,” Johanns said.

Contact the writer:

202-662-7270, joe.morton@owh.com

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