ARKANSAS DELEGATION
differs on House proposal.
WASHINGTON — Arkansas’ congressional delegation offered differing opinions Tuesday on a House proposal to authorize spending for most of the federal government until next fall while only temporarily funding the Department of Homeland Security.
The proposal, announced in a private meeting Tuesday with House Republicans, would avoid a showdown over funding for the department — and President Barack Obama’s recent changes to immigration policy — until 2015, when Republicans control both chambers of Congress. It also would keep the rest of the government operating beyond Dec. 11, when spending authority is set to end.
The state’s congressional delegation is all Republican, except for outgoing Sen. Mark Pryor, who is a Democrat.
Rep. Tom Cotton, who will become a senator in January, said he would prefer that the House and Senate approve a continuing resolution that would temporarily allow funding to continue at current levels for the entire government. Barring that, he would like to only temporarily fund several agencies, including the Homeland Security Department, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.
Those agencies have overstepped their authority, and newly elected members should vote on their spending, he said.
“I would prefer to see more agencies included in a short-term measure, rather than a full-year spending measure. I just simply think that a lame-duck Congress of any type should generally not be making big policy decisions,” he said.
“The simplest solution would just be to pass a continuing resolution for the entire government into the new year and then let a Congress that is full of accountable representatives and senators make those decisions for the American people.”
Rep. Steve Womack., a former Army National Guard colonel who is a member of the House Appropriations Committee, urged his House colleagues to think about the plan strategically, saying the “cavalry” of a Republican-controlled Senate is on its way.
“If I have the cavalry coming, [meaning] the Senate, then why would I want to draw the line in the sand here and now and do or die? The smarter, more practical approach is for us to do what we can now and wait out the fact that we’ve got a much more agreeable Senate picture about to take place and that is an opportunity for us.”
Republicans need to avoid creating an opportunity for “buyer’s remorse” so soon after the election, he said.
“We’ve just been handed an opportunity to demonstrate our capacity to lead and to govern. I don’t think it would be wise on our part, on the heels of just [being] handed that opportunity, to get locked down in some kind of confrontation,” Womack said.
With the current Congress scheduled to end Dec. 11, and authority to fund the government ending the same day, “it doesn’t leave us a lot of options,” Rep. Rick Crawford said. “I wish the circumstances were otherwise, but we have to take some action here.”
Some members have said the House should take a stand before the end of the year and keep the Homeland Security Department from implementing the president’s immigration policy.
“You have to temper that with the reality that we still have to get a bill not only through the House but through the Senate, and we need to not shut the government down,” Crawford said. “There is a limit to what we can do when we don’t control both chambers.”
Rep. Tim Griffin said continuing all federal spending at its current level ignores the work the current Congress has done to agree on appropriation bills over the past few months.
Griffin said Tuesday’s proposal lets the agreed-on bills go into effect and lets Republicans return to the immigration issue when they control both chambers next year.
“If we wait until January, we’re going to have a much more receptive partner in the Senate to do the stuff that we need to do,” Griffin said. Nevada Democratic Sen. “Harry Reid’s not going to be in charge in January, so I don’t have a problem with getting what we can and doing the rest with the new Senate. I think it’s smart policy and smart politics.”
Sen. John Boozman said temporarily funding the Homeland Security Department may be the best way to address Republicans’ frustration over the president’s actions on immigration while keeping the government operating.
“This is all about votes, and we’ll have significantly more votes in the next Congress than we do now,” he said. “Theoretically we should have a stronger hand in regard to trying to actually get something done.”
Pryor, a Senate Appropriations Committee member, said he would prefer to pass an appropriations bill that funds the entire government instead of the next Congress having to finish the current members’ work.
“I would want to come in with a clean slate, so they could get to work on 2015 business in 2015. I think they’d be better off,” said Pryor, who lost to Cotton in the November election and will not return to Congress next year.