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– May 28, 2010 - By a vote of 262 to 150 the House of Representatives today approved H.R. 5116, a bill reauthorizing the America COMPETES Act, after language that was overwhelmingly approved on the House floor two weeks ago was stripped from the underlying bill with a rarely-used procedural tactic.
“I am disappointed that my Democratic colleagues resorted to using a procedural tactic to defeat Republican changes that would have saved over $40 billion and restored the original COMPETES priority of basic research,” said Ranking Member Ralph Hall (R-TX). “While I am glad we were finally able to reauthorize many of the important research and education programs in this bill, the bill that passed today spends too much money, authorizes duplicative programs, and shifts focus away from the bill’s original intent.”
Prior to a final vote on the COMPETES Reauthorization on May 13, a Motion to Recommit (MTR) offered by Ranking Member Hall passed the House by a vote of 292 to 126, resulting in the Democrats’ decision to pull the bill from consideration at that point.
Last Wednesday, a new bill was brought to the floor, incorporating only two of the provisions from the successful MTR. The new bill, H.R. 5325, reduced the 5-year authorization to a 3-year authorization, in an attempt to compromise with Republicans on reducing cost. However, with many Republicans still concerned over increased spending, duplicative programs, and a shift in priorities, the new bill was defeated, failing to achieve the two-thirds majority needed in order to pass under an expedited process.
Today, the original bill, H.R. 5116, was brought back to the House floor, with the Majority employing a rarely used procedural tactic to gut the most substantive and cost-saving provisions from the Republican MTR. The MTR, which passed by an overwhelming margin, originally did the following:
· Eliminated funding authorizations beyond 2013, saving $38.2 billion;
· Struck the new programs in the bill, saving $1.3 billion;
· Froze funding for all existing programs at current levels for 2011-2013 unless there is no deficit, saving $8 billion;
· Provided special consideration to schools that make STEM education programs available to disabled veterans and gave special consideration to schools chartered to serve disabled students;
· Prohibited any Federal employee who has been disciplined for downloading, viewing, or exchanging pornographic material from receiving a salary on the taxpayer dollar; and
· Ensured that institutions receiving Federal funding allow military recruiters on their campuses.
Today’s procedural tactic effectively divided the MTR into nine separate sections requiring the House to vote on each. Democrats defeated all but two: the ‘porn provision,’ as described above, and the ‘military recruiters on campuses provision,’ which both passed by recorded vote. All of the other provisions were stripped from H.R. 5116, including the compromise represented in last week’s bill, which reduced the authorization period.
Estimated by the Congressional Budget Office to cost $86 billion, H.R. 5116 authorizes nearly $23 billion above currently appropriated levels. Republicans offered several amendments throughout the legislative process, in addition to the MTR, attempting to reduce the increased spending, but all were defeated.
“Given the current state of our national economy and the fact that our nation’s budget deficit has increased 50% since the last authorization three years ago, we must be mindful of our spending if America is to continue to compete globally,” Hall noted.
Finally, the issue of giving institutions serving disabled veterans special consideration for STEM grants, an issue of great importance to Ranking Member Hall, was also removed from the bill, by a vote of 197-215.
“I am disappointed that the compromise language for disabled veterans was voted down,” Hall said. “On the eve of Memorial Day, I cannot understand how my colleagues can vote against giving disabled veterans the same treatment that other underrepresented populations enjoy.”
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111-124 |