Approps Panel Regains Status
Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Approps Panel Regains Status
Chairman Hal Rogers Guides Committee to Fruitful Year, Former
Reputation
By John Stanton, Roll Call Staff
When the House gaveled out for the year last month, lawmakers
from both parties quickly made for the exits, eager to put one of
the ugliest sessions in recent memory behind them.
One who didn't sprint to the airport was Appropriations Chairman
Hal Rogers (Ky.), who sat back in his office just off the floor and
enjoyed a cigar, content in the knowledge that despite the
gridlock, the bickering and near total breakdown in the legislative
process, his committee had overseen a productive year of
lawmaking.
"It's been one heck of a year," the 31-year veteran of
legislative battles said between puffs.
"We've succeeded, frankly, beyond my expectations," Rogers said,
adding that despite the conventional wisdom that the GOP's earmark
ban and anti-spending fervor would cripple him, the committee was
once again the biggest game in town.
In fact, Rogers said, despite those handicaps "the subcommittees
did things they hadn't done in years. That is, actually legislate
and compromise" in churning out appropriations measures that
ultimately made up last month's omnibus bill.
In a statement following passage of the omnibus in December,
Appropriations ranking member Norm Dicks (D-Wash.) praised the
committee and touted its return to prominence in the chamber.
"The Appropriations Committee has begun to restore its
reputation as a workhorse committee, finding ways to resolve our
differences without drama and quietly getting our work done," Dicks
said.
"In an era of profound partisan gridlock, I am proud of the work
done by the Appropriations Committee," he added.
"Partisan gridlock" barely scratches the surface in describing
the level of acrimony and dysfunction that plagued Congress last
year. Aside from the debt ceiling increase, a package of broadly
popular trade deals, the defense authorization measure and a
handful of mundane minor bills, virtually the only pieces of
legislation that were signed into law by President Barack Obama all
originated in Rogers' committee.
"We were the only place where the action was all year long,
whether for good or bad," Rogers said.
Indeed, although Democrats were able to strip out numerous
riders, Rogers and his subcommittee chairmen, or cardinals, were
able to implement a wide array of key GOP policies. For instance,
the final conference report included the elimination of 28 federal
programs, lifted a ban on production of incandescent light bulbs,
implemented mandatory E-Verify requirements for federal hires,
prohibited the District of Columbia from using federal or local
funds to provide abortion services, and implemented limits on key
provisions of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law.
Additionally, while the final appropriations level will not zero
out funding for all of Obama's signature health care law,
Republicans were successful in eliminating increases to the IRS
targeted toward implementing parts of the law.
And those are just some of the dozens of policy provisions large
and small that Rogers tucked into the bill, largely at the request
of authorizing committees who found themselves unable to move
almost any part of their agendas.
Although committees passed numerous regulatory reform measures
and other GOP priorities, they "send it the Senate, and it dies. So
the authorizers got little done this year … so the only other place
to go is the appropriations bills. We did more riders than I can
ever recall on an omnibus bill," Rogers said.
But the road to success wasn't easy for Rogers. In fact, if you
had told just about anyone in Washington a year ago that Rogers -
one of the last Old Bulls left in a House dominated by angry
ideologues - would sit atop the most powerful committee in
Congress, you would have been laughed out of town.
"Those earmarks were helpful in recruiting votes" in the past,
Rogers acknowledged.
"We knew it was going to be difficult for any number of reasons.
One, in our caucus, we had so many new Members, 87 of 'em, half of
them had never served in any political office and most of whom were
elected on a platform of slashing spending, frankly beyond anything
that was possible, but nevertheless, they came here with that in
their mandate," Rogers said.
Rogers said that reality was particularly difficult to deal with
because Congress "immediately jump into the H.R. 1 omnibus, because
we were left with no appropriations bills … and we had all those
new Members who were crying for blood on spending. So we started on
H.R. 1."
Although Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) largely controlled that
process, Rogers said it paved the way for their eventual successes
on the handful of spending measures that were passed.
The freshmen "got their feet wet in the process and learned a
lot of the ins and outs of this place," Rogers said, adding that
the open amendment process also helped because "the votes they were
having to take were pretty tough votes one way or the other."
Rogers also credited Boehner's leadership style in his ability
to be successful.
"Leadership has been very helpful. The fact that Speaker Boehner
was able to negotiate that debt ceiling" with a spending cap "to
get us on the same wavelength as the Senate" made things much
easier, Rogers said.
More fundamentally, Boehner and Majority Leader Eric Cantor
(R-Va.) early on agreed to leave spending matters up to Rogers and
his cardinals, which allowed them to more effectively negotiate
with the Senate and with other House Republicans.
"The Speaker, to his great credit, and the Leader, deferred to
us on this bill. At the outset we said, 'Look, we can handle
this,'" Rogers said.
"There'd be pressure on the Speaker and Leader to intervene and
tell us to do such and so … and they didn't do that. They told
those people, 'Look you have to deal with Hal Rogers and the
committee.' And that was really helpful because it gave us a single
place where we could negotiate."
Rogers and the subcommittee chairmen spent much of the year
working with rank-and-file Members, as well as authorizers,
explaining to them what they could do and how best to pursue policy
priorities through the appropriations process.
Still, when push came to shove in December, Rogers faced a
difficult lift, particularly with the GOP Conference's younger
Members.
"Many of them were nervous with voting for something they didn't
have much knowledge of," Rogers said. So he organized a meeting
with subcommittee chairmen to go through the bill "subcommittee by
subcommittee" and explain it in detail.
And while he still ultimately lost numerous Republicans, "I've
heard so many freshmen especially since then say, 'That opened my
eyes up to what you guys do,'" Rogers said.
He said the attacks on Appropriations' stature - and the
prevailing hostility toward spending - also helped to break the
partisan divide on the committee and bring the Members closer
together.
"It's been very acrimonious, very partisan. Norm Dicks and I
agreed that we were gonna dial that stuff back and get back to
regular order, the way Appropriations has historically done. And we
had to because we're the only committee that has to pass bills or
the government shuts down," Rogers said.
"The relationship I have with Norm Dicks is the best," Rogers
added, describing his Democratic colleague as representing
"fairness and reasonableness."
In the end, Rogers said, Members on both sides of the aisle had
a mutual goal.
"Members wanted to bring it back to its stature, and I think
we've come a long way in that regard," he said.
Approps
Panel Regains Status
Chairman
Hal Rogers Guides Committee to Fruitful Year, Former
Reputation
By John
Stanton Roll Call Staff
When the
House gaveled out for the year last month, lawmakers from both
parties quickly made for the exits, eager to put one of the ugliest
sessions in recent memory behind them.
One who
didn't sprint to the airport was Appropriations Chairman Hal
Rogers (Ky.), who sat back in his office just off the
floor and enjoyed a cigar, content in the knowledge that despite
the gridlock, the bickering and near total breakdown in the
legislative process, his committee had overseen a productive year
of lawmaking.
"It's been
one heck of a year," the 31-year veteran of legislative battles
said between puffs.
"We've
succeeded, frankly, beyond my expectations," Rogers said, adding
that despite the conventional wisdom that the GOP's earmark ban and
anti-spending fervor would cripple him, the committee was once
again the biggest game in town.
In fact,
Rogers said, despite those handicaps "the subcommittees did things
they hadn't done in years. That is, actually legislate and
compromise" in churning out appropriations measures that ultimately
made up last month's omnibus bill.
In a
statement following passage of the omnibus in December,
Appropriations ranking member Norm
Dicks (D-Wash.) praised the committee and touted its
return to prominence in the chamber.
"The
Appropriations Committee has begun to restore its reputation as a
workhorse committee, finding ways to resolve our differences
without drama and quietly getting our work done," Dicks
said.
"In an era
of profound partisan gridlock, I am proud of the work done by the
Appropriations Committee," he added.
"Partisan
gridlock" barely scratches the surface in describing the level of
acrimony and dysfunction that plagued Congress last year. Aside
from the debt ceiling increase, a package of broadly popular trade
deals, the defense authorization measure and a handful of mundane
minor bills, virtually the only pieces of legislation that were
signed into law by President Barack Obama all originated in Rogers'
committee.
"We were
the only place where the action was all year long, whether for good
or bad," Rogers said.
Indeed,
although Democrats were able to strip out numerous riders, Rogers
and his subcommittee chairmen, or cardinals, were able to implement
a wide array of key GOP policies. For instance, the final
conference report included the elimination of 28 federal programs,
lifted a ban on production of incandescent light bulbs, implemented
mandatory E-Verify requirements for federal hires, prohibited the
District of Columbia from using federal or local funds to provide
abortion services, and implemented limits on key provisions of the
Dodd-Frank financial reform law.
Additionally, while the final appropriations level will not
zero out funding for all of Obama's signature health care law,
Republicans were successful in eliminating increases to the IRS
targeted toward implementing parts of the law.
And those
are just some of the dozens of policy provisions large and small
that Rogers tucked into the bill, largely at the request of
authorizing committees who found themselves unable to move almost
any part of their agendas.
Although
committees passed numerous regulatory reform measures and other GOP
priorities, they "send it the Senate, and it dies. So the
authorizers got little done this year … so the only other place to
go is the appropriations bills. We did more riders than I can ever
recall on an omnibus bill," Rogers said.
But the
road to success wasn't easy for Rogers. In fact, if you had told
just about anyone in Washington a year ago that Rogers - one of the
last Old Bulls left in a House dominated by angry ideologues -
would sit atop the most powerful committee in Congress, you would
have been laughed out of town.
"Those
earmarks were helpful in recruiting votes" in the past, Rogers
acknowledged.
"We knew it
was going to be difficult for any number of reasons. One, in our
caucus, we had so many new Members, 87 of 'em, half of them had
never served in any political office and most of whom were elected
on a platform of slashing spending, frankly beyond anything that
was possible, but nevertheless, they came here with that in their
mandate," Rogers said.
Rogers said
that reality was particularly difficult to deal with because
Congress "immediately jump into the H.R. 1 omnibus, because we were
left with no appropriations bills … and we had all those new
Members who were crying for blood on spending. So we started on
H.R. 1."
Although
Speaker John
Boehner (R-Ohio) largely controlled that process, Rogers
said it paved the way for their eventual successes on the handful
of spending measures that were passed.
The
freshmen "got their feet wet in the process and learned a lot of
the ins and outs of this place," Rogers said, adding that the open
amendment process also helped because "the votes they were having
to take were pretty tough votes one way or the other."
Rogers also
credited Boehner's leadership style in his ability to be
successful.
"Leadership
has been very helpful. The fact that Speaker Boehner was able to
negotiate that debt ceiling" with a spending cap "to get us on the
same wavelength as the Senate" made things much easier, Rogers
said.
More
fundamentally, Boehner and Majority Leader Eric
Cantor (R-Va.) early on agreed to leave spending matters
up to Rogers and his cardinals, which allowed them to more
effectively negotiate with the Senate and with other House
Republicans.
"The
Speaker, to his great credit, and the Leader, deferred to us on
this bill. At the outset we said, 'Look, we can handle this,'"
Rogers said.
"There'd be
pressure on the Speaker and Leader to intervene and tell us to do
such and so … and they didn't do that. They told those people,
'Look you have to deal with Hal
Rogers and the committee.' And that was really helpful
because it gave us a single place where we could
negotiate."
Rogers and
the subcommittee chairmen spent much of the year working with
rank-and-file Members, as well as authorizers, explaining to them
what they could do and how best to pursue policy priorities through
the appropriations process.
Still, when
push came to shove in December, Rogers faced a difficult lift,
particularly with the GOP Conference's younger Members.
"Many of
them were nervous with voting for something they didn't have much
knowledge of," Rogers said. So he organized a meeting with
subcommittee chairmen to go through the bill "subcommittee by
subcommittee" and explain it in detail.
And while
he still ultimately lost numerous Republicans, "I've heard so many
freshmen especially since then say, 'That opened my eyes up to what
you guys do,'" Rogers said.
He said the
attacks on Appropriations' stature - and the prevailing hostility
toward spending - also helped to break the partisan divide on the
committee and bring the Members closer together.
"It's been
very acrimonious, very partisan. Norm
Dicks and I agreed that we were gonna dial that stuff
back and get back to regular order, the way Appropriations has
historically done. And we had to because we're the only committee
that has to pass bills or the government shuts down," Rogers
said.
"The
relationship I have with Norm
Dicks is the best," Rogers added, describing his
Democratic colleague as representing "fairness and
reasonableness."
In the end,
Rogers said, Members on both sides of the aisle had a mutual
goal.
"Members
wanted to bring it back to its stature, and I think we've come a
long way in that regard," he said.