Capital Gains and Games

It turns out that the White House insistence that President Bush would stop the earmarks provided in the fiscal 2008 appropriations enacted last year from being spent is a total lie.

Some quick background.

For the past 25 years or so ago, I have been getting together once a month with a group of federal budget friends. I call it the Budget Breakfast Group. The people have changed, their jobs have changed (many times in some cases), and the size of the group has grown from the original 5 to about 20. It includes Republicans and Democrats, former and current staff and appointed officials, congressional and executive branch people, and liberals and conservatives (some extreme on both sides). The one thing we're sure we have in common is deep experience with the budget and a desire to figure out what's actually happening. In many cases we talk about issues months before they actually become issues.

As we typically do, the group met yesterday, the day after the president's budget was released for the world to see. And among the many items discussed (actually, we laughed...A LOT...about much of what the Bush administration did in its budget and how it did it) was this absolute shocker: the Bush executive order to federal agencies telling them not to spend earmarks included in report language -- that is, most of them -- won't have any impact this year and may not really apply to the Bush administration.

The order, which is dated January 29, 2008, states that it applies to "appropriations laws and other legislation enacted after the date of this order..." In other words, it does not apply to any of the fiscal 2008 appropriations enacted last year.

These are the appropriations and earmarks the president insisted in his State of the Union Address he would prevent from being spent. Turns out the president's statement was either misleading or so carefully worded that the real meaning was completely hidden.

The Bush executive order applies to fiscal 2008 supplemental appropriations and anything enacted this year for fiscal 2009. But the supplemental expected this spring for Iraq and Afghanistan isn't likely to include earmarks, and the betting now is that few, if any individual 2009 appropriations will be passed by Congress and signed by this president.

That means that the current Bush administration agency heads who received the executive order will likely never have to apply it. If it's not rescinded, it will only begin tio apply to the next president's agency heads (and it probably will be rescinded).

It also means that the Bush promise, indication, hint, or whatever it was not to spend the earmarks already provided was an overstatement, or worse.

Thank you group.

Here's more on this from Dana Chasin at OMB Watch.