Around the Water Cooler: Capitol Hill Edition
More rescission chatter
Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) recessed the Appropriations Committee Thursday with a budget bill for Commerce, Justice, and Science (this is where funding for public media exists) still on the table. She gave negotiators more time to make a deal, even as a separate deadline looms for the White House’s controversial rescission requests for public media and foreign aid.
Earlier this year, the White House asked Congress to cancel money it budgeted for USAID and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB). Congress can vote on the request, or do nothing and let it expire on Friday, July 18.
The requests remain controversial, as Congress has the power of the purse.
It’s important to note that, before they took a recess, the Appropriations Committee sent budget bills for the Department of Agriculture (USDA), and the Legislative branch, to the Senate floor.
Several Senators called attention to the $1.5 billion in foreign food aid in the USDA budget, along with $1 million set aside for the State Departments to transfer “food for peace” programs to the USDA. Ever since the rescission requests, the farming community has been defending the food programs that are an important part of foreign aid, and important to the farmers who grow the food. In other words, Congress appears to have recovered important foreign food aid programs from the so-called Department of Government Efficiency chainsaw aimed at USAID.
In her opening remarks, Sen. Patty Murray, D-Washington, Ranking Member of the Appropriations Committee, underscored the need for Congress to re-commit to the budget process. She showed how much that process has eroded in recent years, culminating with Russell Vought, chairman of the Office of Management and Budget, floating his political trial balloon with the committee two weeks ago.
“There are two roads before us right now: there is the road we peered down at the last hearing. The road where this becomes the Rescissions Committee—looking at package after package of cuts, fighting over how much of the last deal that we will unravel, fighting over whose projects gets canceled, whose community gets robbed. And there is the road that we are taking a step down today—the bipartisan road. Where we actually work together—where we stand together—and get investments back home to the people who sent us here.”
In a recent letter to his constituents, Sen. Alex Padilla, D-California, says he hopes the Senate will vote against the public broadcasting rescission for the reasons listed by Senator Murray listed above, and more. He pledged to seek two more years of funding for the CPB, beginning with $535 million for the first year.
As of today, there are no meetings listed on the Appropriation Committee’s calendar for the coming week, but we’re keeping an eye out.
By the way, you can get a closer look at how CPB funds public broadcasting here.
Communications Act of 1934, Sect. 326.
Nothing in this Act shall be understood or construed to give the Commission the power of censorship over the radio communications or signals transmitted by any radio station, and no regulation or condition shall be promulgated or fixed by the Commission which shall interfere with the right of free speech by means of radio communication.