Appropriations

Saying that "agita" means "heartburn" is a little like describing a bagel as a bread donut. That's why the word is so perfect is explaining the angst in Washington these days about appropriations...at least that's what I say in my weekly "Fiscal Fitness" column in today's Roll Call.

One of the ways we used to judge the success of the congressional budget process was by the number of appropriations that were enacted when the fiscal year began.

Now we determine success by whether Congress has avoided a government shutdown.

Does anyone else find this as totally ludicrous as I do?

I know this will be a shock for many CG&G readers, but I try to call it pretty much straight down the middle when it comes to Republicans, Democrats and the budget.  This time, the GOP deserved to be called out...and then some...on the unnecessary pain it's trying to put the country through on the continuing resolution.  The technical term for the Republican plan is "BS."

Last week’s effort by the House GOP leadership to embarrass the Obama administration on Libya may have had some success politically but it has the potential to backfire legally big time.

Just to review: Knowing that it would be voted down, the House leadership held a vote last week on legislation that, if enacted, would have provided official congressional support for U.S. military activities in Libya. As expected, the bill was overwhelming defeated.

But…in what could be one of the classic overreaches of all time, the leadership then held a separate vote on another bill that, had it been enacted, would have stopped any federal money from being spent on Libya and it too was voted down. The problem for the GOP is that the courts and the Government Accountability Office have consistently held that the most recently considered legislation is the one that expresses current congressional intent. In this case that means that the failed attempt to cut off funding for Libya would likely be taken by the courts as the real expression of what Congress wants to do.

This article by Carl Hulse from Saturday's New York Times makes it sound as if the GOP refusal to agree to a full-year omnibus appropriation for 2011 during the lame duck session was a surprise.

It was a good story, but it was anything but news.