APPROPRIATIONS/BUDGET NEWS
Senate FY 20 budget – different than others
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Mike Enzi plans to introduce a “realistic” FY 2020 budget resolution.
Enzi said that his proposed 5-year plan will not try to balance the budget nor wipe out the deficit as Roll Call reports:
“‘I’m planning on doing a realistic budget, not a gimmick budget, and I’m hoping that that will lead then to some budget process reform that will get us back on track, reduce spending,’ the Wyoming Republican told CQ after meeting with panel members Thursday.”
Like his House counter-part, Enzi sees the need to raise the budget caps:
“House Budget Chairman John Yarmuth, D-Ky., is aiming to mark up a budget resolution in the first week of April. Like Yarmuth, Enzi said his budget resolution could help lay the foundation for negotiations over raising the austere statutory spending caps that return in fiscal 2020.
“Enzi said adoption of a Senate GOP budget resolution and a House Democratic budget resolution would show ‘where the directions are on the two bodies’ and could be the ‘basis for being able to do a caps deal.'”
Enzi ‘s budget will leave dealing with mandatory accounts to the authorizers, but will include a generous increase for defense:
“‘In a realistic budget, you’ve got to look at what the Armed Services [Committee] is going to do and president is probably going to do, which is OCO,’ he said, referring to so-called Overseas Contingency Operations funds for the Pentagon. ‘It’s not the best way to run government but that’s the pressure and the option and realism.'”
Defense authorizers and appropriators talk about preventing reprogramming of funds
Defense News is reporting that House Democrats plan to include language in their FY 20 bill to prevent the president from reprogramming funding.
“The Pentagon will be stripped of its ability to shift funds within its budget next year if it doesn’t get buy-in from the congressional defense committees to reprogram $2.5 billion in defense funds for the border wall, House Armed Services Committee Chairman Adam Smith said on Wednesday.
“‘We will zero out their reprogramming authority for fiscal year 2020,’ Smith, D-Wash, reportedly said. That is our position,’ Smith said, referring to Democrats on both the House Armed Services and Appropriations panels.”
For more information, contact:
Jerry Chouinard
Deep Water Point Legislative Affairs Lead
jerry.chouinard@deepwaterpoint.com
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