Budgeting changes on hold after lawmaker holds off vote

WASHINGTON — Efforts to overhaul Congress’ budget and appropriations process were placed in limbo Tuesday after Democrats failed to endorse a set of bipartisan recommendations they had helped to craft.

The Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018, which passed with broad support, mandated creation of a House and Senate joint select committee, giving it until this Friday to “provide recommendations and legislative language that will significantly reform the budget and appropriations process.”

After months of meetings, Republicans and Democrats alike indicated support for switching to biennial budgeting, among other changes. Currently, Congress is supposed to craft a budget every year.

U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, a Republican from Rogers, and U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey, D-N.Y., co-chaired the Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform.

At Tuesday’s meeting of the joint select committee, Womack was ready to vote “yes” on the package, which had initially enjoyed overwhelming support. Lowey, on the other hand, declined to proceed, arguing that procedural issues between Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer remained unresolved and must be settled before passage would be appropriate.

At least one Democrat, U.S. Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky, said he’s prepared to support the recommendations, regardless of what Senate leadership does.

“I think it was pretty self-evident that people want to vote for it, but the senators are concerned,” Yarmuth said afterward.

Asked if the committee has come up with a good set of recommendations, Yarmuth said, “It’s better than nothing.”

Under the 1974 Congressional Budget Act, lawmakers are supposed to pass a dozen separate spending bills by Oct. 1, the start of the federal fiscal year.

But they haven’t completed their task by the deadline in more than two decades.

The national debt is nearing $22 trillion with that figure expected to rise sharply over the coming decade.

Committee members agreed that the system isn’t functioning well, but disagreed about how to best fix the problems.

In order to be approved and forwarded to Congress, the committee’s recommendations must receive majority support from its Republican-appointed members as well as its Democratic members.

Given Lowey’s unwillingness to proceed with the package, Womack moved to delay a final vote until 9 a.m. Thursday.

The delay will give Senate leaders time to review the final language, including a few amendments that were pounded out Tuesday afternoon.

“Given the fact that there was that risk of defeating that proposal today, I didn’t see any reason why postponing the vote for a little more than 24 hours would not be the right course of action,” Womack said. “Thursday morning at 9 o’clock we’re going to need to finish this race.”