My column in today's Roll Call will help you appear to be an in-the-know budget person when you're next on Capital Hill.

Congress Deserves Some Slack for the Appropriations Delay

Nov. 17, 2009

One of the things you learn quickly when you spend any time on Capitol Hill is that you never use the phrase “omnibus appropriation” in mixed company. In this case, “mixed company” means any group of people that includes a current or former Member or staffer of the House or Senate Appropriations committees.

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

The Three Tests for This Year’s Appropriations

April 28, 2009
By Stan Collender
Roll Call Contributing Writer

It’s not even May but, believe it or not, it’s time to talk about appropriations.

This may be something of a shock to anyone who has watched, analyzed or participated in the budget process over the past decade. In many of those years, Congress either didn’t try or completely failed to put a budget resolution in place and so had to jerry-rig the process to debate appropriations without violating the law.

Economistmom has been taking on House Appropriations Committee Chairman Dave Obey (D-WI) over several things he said about deficit hawks and budgeteers in an August 2 National Journal interview.  The interview is good reading.

(Full disclosure: I used to write for nj.com and Troy Schneider, one of the other founders of CG&G, was one of NJ.com's founders and my editor.)

A little history might be helpful here.  Obey may be saying it more bluntly but he's not saying anything new: Appropriators have never really liked the budget committees, congressional budget process, or Congressional Budget Act. 

There are times that George W. Bush's audacity on budget matters is truly breathtaking.

The president last week said that Congress hadn't done enough to slow the growth of earmarks and had directed OMB Director Jim Nussle to consider ways not to spend the designated funds.

My column on nationaljournal.com this week deals with the continuing refusal of the Bush administration to work with Congress on appropriations, or much of anything else. The reason: "winning" rather than "governing' is what's important to this White House.

Peter Baker of The Washington Post had a good story today about the latest battle in the appropriations war between the Bush White House and Democratic Congress. The story talks about some of the parallels between the current situation and the standoff in 1995 that led to a government shutdown.

 

Here's my column from yesterday's nationaljournal.com.

Yesterday’s press event at the White House, where President Bush screamed at Congress for not yet passing any of the fiscal 2008 appropriations bills reminded me of the 1966 football game between Michigan State and Notre Dame.

I have vivid memories of that game. What I remember most is that, with the game tied 10-10, Notre Dame ran out the clock while the Michigan State players screamed at them to run a play and taunted them for not doing so.