budget committees

Here's my "Fiscal Fitness" column from today's Roll Call.

The Return of the Budget Committee Jedi

March 10, 2009
By Stan Collender
Roll Call Contributing Writer

Friday’s very discouraging unemployment report, which showed that 651,000 jobs were lost in February, could make the House and Senate Budget committees far more important and powerful than they have been in decades. If it happens, this would be a shock to the system roughly akin to what fans of “Star Wars” (the movies, not the missile-defense system) would call a “disturbance in the force” as the Budget Committee Jedi return to prominence.

It looks like House Banking Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) and House Education and Labor Committee Chairman George Miller (D-CA) are going to be the designated leaders for a stimulus bill in the House.  Sen. Chris Dodd (D-CT) may play the same role in the Senate.

Note who has not been designated: House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt (D-SC) and Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-ND).