Congress Approves Fiscal Year 2008 Omnibus Budget Package; Bush Expected To Sign

Main Category: Public Health
Article Date: 21 Dec 2007 - 10:00 PDT

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The House on Wednesday voted 272-142 to approve a $555 billion omnibus budget package that includes the fiscal year 2008 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill and the 10 other unapproved FY 2008 appropriations bills, as well as $11.2 billion in emergency funds and $70 billion in additional funds for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, CQ Today reports (Clarke/Higa, CQ Today, 12/19). The Labor-HHS-Education section of the package includes $600.1 billion in total spending and $145.1 billion in discretionary spending (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 12/19).

The package in large part meets the overall spending levels of $932.8 billion requested by President Bush, who threatened to veto any proposal that exceeded his request (Clarke/Higa, CQ Today, 12/19). As a result, Democrats had to reduce the amount of overall spending they had sought by $17.5 billion and on average provided less than a 3% increase in domestic spending over FY 2007 (Cohn, CongressDaily, 12/20). For example, the package includes an increase in funds for research at NIH that does not meet the rate of inflation. However, the package also shifts billions of dollars to priorities supported by Democrats, such as health care for veterans.

One hundred ninety-four Republicans and 78 Democrats voted in favor of the package. Most Democrats voted against the package because of the funds for the wars (Simon/Levey, Los Angeles Times, 12/20). The package now moves to Bush, who is expected to sign the proposal (AP/Baltimore Sun, 12/20).

Session in Review
The House and Senate adjourned the first session of the 110th Congress on Wednesday, and Democratic leaders listed their accomplishments, discussed their priorities for next year and criticized Republicans for "opposition that repeatedly forced them to scale back their agenda" on health care and other issues, CongressDaily reports (Schneider/Bourge, CongressDaily, 12/20).

In this session, Democrats passed legislation to expand federal funding for embryonic stem cell research. However, Bush vetoed the bill. Democrats also passed legislation to reauthorize and expand SCHIP but failed to override a presidential veto despite support from a large number of Republicans (Weisman/Kane, Washington Post, 12/20).

Next year, Democrats plan to make health care a priority, according to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). "The biggest issue (in 2008) will be health care," she said (Schneider/Bourge, CongressDaily, 12/20). She cited the need to increase funds for research at NIH, begin to adopt a national electronic health record system and ensure that all U.S. residents have "universally accessible, personalized care" (Epstein, CQ Today, 12/19).

Pelosi added, "It's a shame that the president did not accept our investments in (NIH and science funding) this year. I am talking about a realignment of priorities with more emphasis on customized and personalized research (on health care needs)" (Schneider/Bourge, CongressDaily, 12/20).

Editorials

• Baltimore Sun: "Congressional Democrats are concluding their first year in the majority by taking a shellacking in showdowns with President Bush" on health care and other issues, a Sun editorial states. For example, the "score in a ... high-profile dispute" over expanding SCHIP "stands at Bush 2 (vetoes), Congress 0 (legislation signed into law)," the editorial states. According to the editorial, because Bush is "an unpopular president on the way out of office," he "can afford ... to threaten the widely supported children's health program -- on the ridiculous grounds of blocking a cigarette tax increase" -- with Democrats left in the "weaker position of caring if they get blamed." The editorial concludes, "This was supposed to be the year to get solid work done before the 2008 presidential campaign season. Sadly, real progress will apparently have to wait for the next president and Congress to take office in 2009" (Baltimore Sun, 12/20).
  
  
• Washington Post: The first session of the 110th Congress "offered a sobering lesson in the practical limits of majority control" to Democrats, who failed to deliver on a number of promises on health care and other issues, a Post editorial states. According to the editorial, Democrats this year "recorded some significant achievements" but often "found their legislative plans stymied. For example, Democrats "could not overcome presidential vetoes of bills providing for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research or expanding" SCHIP, the editorial states. In addition, a number of "serious issues," such as the long-term financial stability of entitlement programs, "remain unaddressed" and "aren't likely to be taken up next year, either" (Washington Post, 12/20).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation© 2005 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

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