Congressman Jim Moran

Thursday is Thanksgiving, also known by many as Turkey Day. And just in time for the holidays, Congress has produced a turkey of a bill. The Omnibus Appropriations bill that will fund most of the federal government for 2005, passed late Saturday afternoon, nearly one month and a half after the new fiscal year has begun. It consists of 9 of the 13 appropriations bills rolled into one “omnibus” bill. The legislation is over 3,000 pages long and members of Congress were given less than 24 hours to review what was in it. The closed door nature in which an omnibus is crafted allowed the White House to gain great leverage and an ability to dictate what should and shouldn't go into the bill.

One such provision that slipped into this year's bill would have allowed members of Congress to view people's personal IRS statements. A keen eyed staffer fortunately caught the addition buried deep within the gigantic bill and it was taken out after being circulated in public. One can easily surmise that giving politicians the ability to view personal IRS records would quickly lead to partisan political tomfoolery, notwithstanding the blatant privacy concerns. Lawmakers involved in the situation claim that it was an attempt to express their displeasure with a lack of access to IRS facilities. While this was likely the case, the unintentional results occur when the normal process is discarded and things are rushed too quickly.

But some “riders” did make it into the "omnibus" final equation. It is now illegal for states and local governments to require that public health care providers and hospitals offer educational information and optional advice to patients about abortion. On the other hand, a number of "riders" supported by both the House and Senate were stripped out because of White House opposition. A rider to defeat overtime pay regulations that was passed by the full House and Senate weeks ago to protect the overtime pay of an estimated 6 million workers was successfully stripped by the White House. Also, another rider that had received a full debate in both chambers was killed by the Bush Administration in their quest to build logging roads on pristine forest land for the purpose of cutting down trees.

This is a broken way to legislate and a subversion of the peoples' will. Instead of going through the normal process of committee hearings, floor debate and a clear vote on the issue, the omnibus bill was put on such a fast track that the House and Senate surrendered much of their responsibility to the President. Once their will was exerted on the omnibus appropriations bill at the 11th hour, members were basically placed in the position of voting in favor of a bill whose full details were unknown or risk a government wide shutdown and the loss of critical funding for local communities.

When they took over control of the House of Representatives in 1994, Republicans campaigned on a good government agenda that included cleaning up the appropriations process. This meant completing the appropriations work in a timely manner and without the use of an omnibus. I think if they knew ten years ago, how things would turn out, they would be outraged. The current process is much worse than anything Democrats perpetrated during their forty year majority in the House.

But let’s end this week’s column on lighter note. I hope everyone in Falls Church and Northern Virginia has a safe and happy Thanksgiving.