Tuesday, November 23, 2004
Beware of the Hidden Surprise
I don't know about anyone else, but I used to enjoy getting Cracker Jacks at the Dodger games that my family used to attend (this was of course before the huge price increases and thousand dollar braces that I had). I used to think at the time that the best part about Cracker Jacks was the "Toy Surprise." Looking back, however, I realize that not only were the toys not all that great, but also that the sugary snack isn't very good for you either (still tastes good though). More to the point I discovered that hidden suprises more often than not aren't all their cracked up to be (pun intended).
This little parable leads me to the numerous stories regard the hidden provision in Congress's $388 Billion Omnibus spending bill that failed to pass on Saturday. In case anyone is wondering what the heck I am talking about, the basics are as follows: As many know, Congress is required to pass legislation that authorizes federal spending for a fiscal year, in this case fiscal 2005, which started October 1. Without this legislation, other branches of the government, specifically the executive, but also the judiciary are not allowed to spend any federal money. These bills, known as appropriations, are complex and are often laden with special projects, funding requests and studies. They are not supposed to contain permanent substantive legislation, but like all other things in Congress, there are ways around that as well. For this year Congress failed to pass 9 of the 13 required bills prior to October 1, and was forced to pass a continuing Resolution (CR), which authorized the federal government to continue operations, but at the same funding levels as was approved for fiscal 2004. In other words, no increases for inflation, additional expenses, or newly enacted mandates. The CR was set to expire on Sat. Nov. 20, and by that time Congress was supposed to have passed the remaining appropriations bills. To make accomplishing in a little over a month (actually about 2 weeks considering the election) what couldn't be done in a year, Congress rolled all of the outstanding bills into one mammoth bill knows as an Omnibus (meaning providing for many things at once). The bill estimated at more than 3,000 pages, was all set to be enacted when several astute Senate aides apparently noticed a provision that permitted House and Senate Appropriations Committee staff members to have access to IRS facilities that contain taxpayer records. The real kicker was that the provision also apparently removed any privacy or security safeguards that would serve as a deterrent for divulging the otherwise private information contained in the tax returns. According to the Washington Post's article today, the provision was added by "lower level House staffers" who never presented the bill to the Committee or the full House or Senate for debate. The result was that the provision needed to be stripped from the bill, which due to rules of the House and Senate is not permitted by amendment, because Omnibus bills can't be amended (which is what allows them to move quickly). Thus, the bill was stopped on the House floor, needs to be redrafted, and then voted on next week. This required, instead of a completed federal budget for FY 05 a new CR which now expires on Dec. 6th or 7th.
Now its bad enough that Congress can't do its work on time and has to resort to these measures to complete its constitutionally required job, but its even worse when things like this happen. Leaving aside the policy implications of such a provision, the fact that this was placed in a bill that no one had time to read, much less go over with a fine tooth and comb destroys the very transparency that this government was built upon. While Omnibus's provide a much needed way of moving must pass bills though Congress, they also provide, as we have seen, a vehicle for abuse of power, which is precisely what happened here. Congressional Leadership and Committee Chairmen control the entire Omnibus process and have to approve of every addition and subtraction from such a bill. To have allowed such a controversial provision into a bill that they knew would not be noticed, nor debated, is, in my opinion, not only egregiously irresponsible, but a plain abuse of power. I'm glad that they got caught this time, because who else knows what is contained in those 3,000 pages. They have a week to find out, let us hope that there was only one surprise in this Cracker Jack box.
This little parable leads me to the numerous stories regard the hidden provision in Congress's $388 Billion Omnibus spending bill that failed to pass on Saturday. In case anyone is wondering what the heck I am talking about, the basics are as follows: As many know, Congress is required to pass legislation that authorizes federal spending for a fiscal year, in this case fiscal 2005, which started October 1. Without this legislation, other branches of the government, specifically the executive, but also the judiciary are not allowed to spend any federal money. These bills, known as appropriations, are complex and are often laden with special projects, funding requests and studies. They are not supposed to contain permanent substantive legislation, but like all other things in Congress, there are ways around that as well. For this year Congress failed to pass 9 of the 13 required bills prior to October 1, and was forced to pass a continuing Resolution (CR), which authorized the federal government to continue operations, but at the same funding levels as was approved for fiscal 2004. In other words, no increases for inflation, additional expenses, or newly enacted mandates. The CR was set to expire on Sat. Nov. 20, and by that time Congress was supposed to have passed the remaining appropriations bills. To make accomplishing in a little over a month (actually about 2 weeks considering the election) what couldn't be done in a year, Congress rolled all of the outstanding bills into one mammoth bill knows as an Omnibus (meaning providing for many things at once). The bill estimated at more than 3,000 pages, was all set to be enacted when several astute Senate aides apparently noticed a provision that permitted House and Senate Appropriations Committee staff members to have access to IRS facilities that contain taxpayer records. The real kicker was that the provision also apparently removed any privacy or security safeguards that would serve as a deterrent for divulging the otherwise private information contained in the tax returns. According to the Washington Post's article today, the provision was added by "lower level House staffers" who never presented the bill to the Committee or the full House or Senate for debate. The result was that the provision needed to be stripped from the bill, which due to rules of the House and Senate is not permitted by amendment, because Omnibus bills can't be amended (which is what allows them to move quickly). Thus, the bill was stopped on the House floor, needs to be redrafted, and then voted on next week. This required, instead of a completed federal budget for FY 05 a new CR which now expires on Dec. 6th or 7th.
Now its bad enough that Congress can't do its work on time and has to resort to these measures to complete its constitutionally required job, but its even worse when things like this happen. Leaving aside the policy implications of such a provision, the fact that this was placed in a bill that no one had time to read, much less go over with a fine tooth and comb destroys the very transparency that this government was built upon. While Omnibus's provide a much needed way of moving must pass bills though Congress, they also provide, as we have seen, a vehicle for abuse of power, which is precisely what happened here. Congressional Leadership and Committee Chairmen control the entire Omnibus process and have to approve of every addition and subtraction from such a bill. To have allowed such a controversial provision into a bill that they knew would not be noticed, nor debated, is, in my opinion, not only egregiously irresponsible, but a plain abuse of power. I'm glad that they got caught this time, because who else knows what is contained in those 3,000 pages. They have a week to find out, let us hope that there was only one surprise in this Cracker Jack box.
# posted by mouldfan : 8:41 AM
