Cloture Motion Fails on Both S 16 and S 388

Yesterday the Senate failed to close debate on both S 16 and S 388, respectively the Republican and Democrat legislative efforts to stop the sequestration of federal spending under Section 251A of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 (2 USC 901a). The cloture vote on S 16 failed largely along party lines (with 8 Republicans voting against and 1 Democrat for). The cloture vote on S 388 failed upon more nearly party line votes (4 Democrats voting against).

Reconsideration Unlikely

Sen. Reid (D,NV) voted against both bills. Under Senate rules this allows him to request a reconsideration of the vote on the cloture motion on either bill. He is unlikely (in the extreme) to request such a reconsideration for S 16, but if he feels that an arrangement has been reached on S 388 that would allow passage, he would certainly so request for that bill. That will not happen today, and even if it did, the House has gone home for the weekend. The Sequester will happen.

Moving Forward – Near Term

So, today, before midnight, President Obama is required to order a cut of about $85 Billion dollars in federal spending over the remainder of the fiscal year. A lot has been written about what will happen because of those spending cuts, but most of that has been political theater. The closest we have to a real document is a memo published by the President on the 27^th on the subject of Agency Responsibilities for Implementation of Potential Joint Committee Sequestration. A one sentence precise of that memo can be found on page one under Agency Planning Activities:

“Agencies' planning efforts must be guided by the principle of protecting the agency's mission to serve the public to the greatest extent practicable.”

Exactly what happens next depends in large extent on each individual agency. Nothing of consequence will happen this weekend, and probably little over the next couple of weeks.

Moving Forward – Longer Term

It is now time to start considering the next big budget fight; the current spending bill expires on March 27^th. Congress needs to pass a continuing resolution for the remainder of FY 2013. This will provide another chance to avoid the worst potential problems associated with the sequester. Congress and the public will have a better idea of how the Administration is actually going to deal with the budget reduction mandated by the earlier budget deal. That may provide a starting point for adjusting the spending for the remainder of the fiscal year.

Bills Introduced – 2-27-13 (Revised)

There were four more bills yesterday that would prevent/modify the sequester of Federal funding. No way of telling yet what specific affect either bill would have on cybersecurity or chemical safety/security spending. The four bills are:

H.R.849 Latest Title: To amend the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to eliminate the section 251A sequestrations and to reduce the security and nonsecurity discretionary spending limits by $320 billion from fiscal year 2014 through fiscal year 2021, and to suspend the statutory limit on the public debt until February 1, 2017. Sponsor: Rep Smith, Adam (D,WA)

H.R.857 Latest Title: To amend section 251A of the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to eliminate the Department of Defense sequestration for fiscal years 2013 and 2014 and sequester such eliminated sums over a period of fiscal years 2015 through 2021. Sponsor: Rep Cook, Paul (R,CA)

S.16 Latest Title: A bill to provide for a sequester replacement. Sponsor: Sen Inhofe, James M. (R,OK)

S.18 Latest Title: A bill to amend the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 to replace the sequester established by the Budget Control Act of 2011. Sponsor: Sen Ayotte, Kelly (R,NH)

Neither of the House bills, nor the Ayotte bill has much chance of actually being considered. Legislation on spending that does get floor consideration typically comes from the Chair (or sometimes Ranking Member) of the Appropriations Committees. The Inhofe bill will be considered today in the Senate as part of the deal that I mentioned yesterday (though I called it the McConnell bill there).

(NOTE: This post was revised because I found the Senate bills after the Congressional Record became available this morning. I initially check bills sequentially first thing in the morning through Thomas.gov as they become available quicker there. The two Senate bills were introduced out of sequence.)