This Week in Congress: 7.16.07 – 7.20.07

CAP Prepares You for This Week’s Big Issues

Iraq

The Senate continues debate this week on the Iraq war as it considers the fiscal year 2008 Defense Authorization bill.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) will likely file a cloture petition today on an amendment to the FY08 Defense Authorization that would require the Bush administration to begin reducing the number of troops in Iraq within 120 days of its enactment and maintain only a “limited presence” by next April. The amendment is sponsored by Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-MI) and Sen. Jack Reed (D-RI). The proposal has garnered the support of three Republicans—Sens. Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Olympia Snowe (R-ME), and Gordon Smith (R-OR)—but it is unlikely to get the 60 votes necessary to clear a cloture motion and go to a vote on the floor.

The Senate is also expected to consider an amendment by former Armed Services Committee chairman Sen. John Warner (R-VA) and Foreign Relations ranking member Richard Lugar (R-IN). The language in the amendment stops short of the provisions laid out in the Levin-Reed amendment, which will make it more likely to draw significant support from Republicans frustrated with the lack of progress in Iraq. The amendment would direct the Bush administration to file a report on its contingency plans to Congress by Oct. 16 and asks the administration to submit a proposal to revise the original 2002 authorization for war.

The Senate might also vote this week on a bipartisan amendment from Sens. Ken Salazar (D-CO) and Lamar Alexander (R-TN) that would implement the 79 recommendations of the Iraq Study Group, which the Center for American Progress has warned is now woefully out of date.

And Armed Services Personnel Subcommittee Chairman Ben Nelson (D-NE) and Homeland Security Governmental Affairs ranking member Susan Collins (R-ME) have introduced an amendment that aims to alter the course in Iraq by changing the mission to focusing on protecting U.S. personnel and infrastructure, training and equipping Iraqi security forces, border security, and counterterrorism.

So far there have been over 200 amendments to the FY08 Defense Authorization bill filed, most of which are focused on military programs and Pentagon policy and range from the disposal of chemical weapons to habeas corpus.

Read the Center for American Progress’ recently-released report that details a four-point strategy for reclaiming control of U.S. security in the Middle East:

• Strategic Reset

Read a memo from John Podesta, Lawrence J. Korb, and Brian Katulis on the Iraq Study Group’s recommendations:

• Iraq Study Group’s Recommendations Overtaken by Events in Iraq

Appropriations

The House of Representatives will continue work on FY08 appropriations bills this week with consideration of the $31.6 billion Energy and Water and the $153.7 billion Labor-Health and Human Services spending bills. The Labor-HHS bill contains the largest of the domestic appropriations measures and is slated to go $12 billion over the White House’s request, which will likely result in a fight with President Bush later this year.

Debate over the spending bills this week will also raise issues over earmarks; House Appropriations Chairman David Obey (D-WI) agreed to allow the inclusion of projects despite an earlier decision to keep earmarks out of the initial versions of spending bills. Members of the conservative Republican Study Committee will likely still raise debate over specific earmarks.

Read Scott Lilly’s take on earmarks:

• Cleaning the Air on Earmarks
• When Chutzpah is an Understatement

Agriculture

The House Agriculture Committee will mark up the Farm Bill, which expires on September 30th, on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. The 2002 bill has been very popular with farmers, but food stamp advocates, environmentalists, and specialty crop growers all want more money for their programs. Reformers have proposed ending all the subsidy programs, particularly wanting stricter limits on the level of payments to individual farmers.

Read the Center for American Progress’ proposal for the Farm Bill that would confront global warming, global poverty, energy security, and global free trade:

• Fueling a New Farm Economy: Creating Incentives for Biofuels in Agriculture and Trade Policy

SCHIP

The Senate Finance Committee will begin its markup of State Children’s Health Insurance Program reauthorization legislation on Tuesday, which has support from both Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT) and ranking member Charles Grassley (R-IA). Despite this support, the bill is receiving criticism from almost half of the Republicans on the committee and President Bush has threatened to veto it.

The bill would fund a $35 billion addition to SCHIP over five years with an increase on cigarette taxes. The House Energy and Commerce Committee is also preparing its own SCHIP bill that will add $50 billion to the program over five years and likely be more lenient on adult coverage and income eligibility standards. That bill is expected to be marked up before the end of the month.

Read the Center for American Progress’ most recent materials on SCHIP:

• Children’s Health Care Benefits
• The SCHIP Shortfall Crisis: Ramifications for Minority Children