The Honorable Steve Chabot
United States House of Representatives
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Representative Chabot:
On behalf of the more than 362,000 members of the National Taxpayers Union (NTU), I would like to extend our support for H. Res. 283, which would change House rules to prohibit the consideration of conference reports for omnibus appropriations bills. In practical terms, this would stop the House from rolling multiple appropriations bills from various committees into one massive spending package. Because omnibus bills are often seen as "must-pass" legislation and are considered in the waning hours of a session, they usually attract questionable spending projects that are unlikely to get Congressional approval under regular circumstances. For that reason, taxpayers usually dread the arrival of an omnibus bill as an excuse for Congress to squander tax dollars.
Traditionally, each year a given House appropriations subcommittee is supposed to put forth a separate bill that covers spending for their related federal agencies. After debating each measure on the floor, the House then confers with the Senate and sends a series of bills to the President for his signature or veto. The process of passing each appropriations measure as a stand-alone law is designed to help ensure that circumspect attention is paid to the provisions contained within the bill.
As simple as it should be for Congress to pass a budget on time, in recent years the House and Senate have been resorting to alternative processes (such as omnibus bills, supplemental spending bills, and continuing resolutions) to keep the federal government operating. According to the Congressional Research Service, 12 different omnibus measures were passed into law during the period covering Fiscal Year 1986 to Fiscal Year 2005. Just this spring Congress enacted a Fiscal Year 2007 "cromnibus" bill (a continuing resolution with characteristics of an omnibus bill), which covered 9 appropriations bills and $463.5 billion in spending. Amazingly, Congress approved it in only a few hours and with little public review. Even with its flaws, the regular appropriations process is still far preferable to last-minute cramming.
By ending omnibus appropriations bills, H. Res. 283 would effectively lock the back door that Congress uses to escape from looming budgetary responsibilities. This change would encourage Congressional leaders to better pace the legislative agenda so that a rush to dispense with a backlog of budget work by the end of the fiscal year doesn't invite waste of taxpayer money. NTU members are continually looking for ways to improve the Congressional budget process, and we've added your excellent improvement to our list of recommended fiscal reforms.
Sincerely,
Kristina Rasmussen
Senior Government Affairs Manager