By Dick Miller
WE CONNECT DOTS: A government budget has finally been agreed to.
Not the one in Harrisburg. Rather the Federal spending plan in Washington.
A couple weeks ago, Congress, in consort with the White House, approved a $1.1 trillion appropriations bill. Our Federal government is now in no danger of running out of money or shutting down until at least next fall.
The House voted 316-113 to okay the bill, but seven of the 13 Republican members of Congress from Pennsylvania voted “No.” They are Reps. Lou Barletta, Mike Kelly, Tom Marino, Pat Meehan, Scott Perry, Keith Rothfus and Bill Schuster.
In the U.S. Senate where the final tally was 65-33, Pennsylvania’s vote was also split. Democrat Bob Casey voted for it and Republican Pat Toomey against. Individual voting records were reported by PoliticsPA website’s managing editor Nick Field.
Not surprising, the legislation is a concession no one liked but both parties could live with. At least for a good majority of the members, explained Huffington Post.
An omnibus bill is not the ideal way to fund the government. It is slightly better than a series of stop gap bills, much better than shutting down the government. However, the ideal method is a series of single-subject appropriation bills preceded by research and hearings.
According to Heritage Foundation, early on a Wednesday morning “the House Rules Committee posted text for the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2016 Fiscal Year,” as this sterling product of a Democrat-Republican government is known. The bill was 2,200 pages with another 1,000 pages of explanatory material.
The following Friday morning the House began consideration of the bill with a final vote occurring that afternoon. Congress’s goal was to wrap up business and go on holiday vacation until Jan. 5.
Many of the hundreds of deals that find their way into the bill are negotiated behind closed doors. Full details or impact may not be evident for weeks, even months.
Huffington Post reported “Conservatives said the legislation overspent, that it didn’t do enough to address their abortion concerns and nothing was done to block Syrian refugees from coming to the United States. Funding to Planned Parenthood, a nationwide organization that performs more abortions than any other, was not impeded. Democrats were looking to address a debt crisis in Puerto Rico and were ticked that it allowed new and continued restrictions on environmental oversight.
The bill also lifted a 40-year ban on oil exports that means fuel prices will remain low and fossil burn off will continue to negatively affect climate control. That can be bad or good for both sides, depending on who is talking.
The omnibus bill includes serious efforts to shuttle Obamacare out of business. A tax on sale of medical devices was deferred.
Supported by a substantial number in both parties, Congress also postponed the imposition of the “Cadillac tax” on rich employer-provided health care plans. Both Republican and Democrats, intending to run for re-election, needed to keep campaign checks coming from business and labor unions who oppose the tax.
Collection of these taxes would have helped subsidize insurers selling Obamacare on the government exchange. These insurance companies cannot remove their exchange products from the market without facing huge government fines, themselves.
They also face the same consequences if caught hurting consumers. This has given rise to a new tactic.
Effective in 2016 large carriers are cutting commissions to insurance brokers who will still be required to offer the product. Sales people are most certain to sell less plans. Future versions of Obamacare plans will be more expensive with less value.
Bottom Line: Expect our state budget to be adopted in the same manner. Representatives will be given little time to digest what they are expected to vote on when it is finally time to vote.
This is an okay way to conduct business in Harrisburg and Washington because you keep voting for these people.
