Washington Digest: House passes budget resolution
WASHINGTON — With Democrats united in opposition, the Republican-controlled House last week approved a resolution that would balance the federal budget in a decade with no new taxes but $5 trillion in cuts to domestic programs other than defense.
Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., said passage of the 10-year, nonbinding budget resolution would build “a brighter future for all Americans.”
Families would have more opportunity, a more effective and efficient government, access to more affordable health care choices, a healthier economy and a stronger and more secure nation, Price said.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., argued that the $5 trillion in cuts would fall heaviest on average American families.
“The budget continues Republicans’ quest to empower special interests on the backs of hardworking American families,” Pelosi said. “It is entirely inadequate to meet America’s needs.”
The resolution was approved 226-197. Although nonbinding, it establishes top-line spending numbers for a dozen annual appropriations bills that Congress has begun to craft.
Reps. Cresent Hardy, Joe Heck and Mark Amodei, R-Nev., voted for the budget; Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., voted against it.
VA SPENDING BILL PASSED
Largely along party lines, the House approved a $76.6 billion bill to fund military construction and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs for fiscal year 2016.
Democrats opposed the bill, saying it fails to adequately fund veterans’ health programs and other services, and White House officials issued a veto threat. The bill would provide a 5.6 percent increase in VA funding, but it falls more than $1 billion short of President Barack Obama’s request.
Republicans argued that the 5.6 percent increase was enough to meet the needs of veterans.
“Our bill is a good bill in its current form. It targets the needs of homeless veterans, caregivers who sacrifice their time and livelihood to care for their injured service members, and those veterans waiting too long for decisions on their disability claims,” said Rep. Charlie Dent, R-Pa., who heads a House Appropriations subcommittee overseeing the VA.
The House voted 255-163 to pass the bill.
Hardy, Amodei and Heck voted for the bill; Titus voted against it.
MARIJUANA AMENDMENT KILLED
The House narrowly rejected an amendment to a military construction bill that would have allowed VA doctors to discuss the use of medical marijuana with patients.
Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., said the amendment could benefit some of the estimated 560,000 American veterans who served in Iraq and Afghanistan and suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder and depression, by providing a less risky alternative to prescription opiates.
“Nobody has ever died from a marijuana overdose. We are watching veterans have prescriptions for opiates who suffer from PTSD, for example, more than others, and their suicide rate is high,” Blumenauer said. “There is real danger in not being able to provide balanced treatment.”
Dent argued against the amendment. He said even if it was approved, it would not shield VA physicians from risking jail.
“DEA has advised VA that its doctors cannot issue anything that could be construed as a prescription or endorsement of medical marijuana, so the amendment won’t change the situation for veterans unless the VA physicians are willing to risk prosecution,” he said.
The amendment was rejected 210-213.
Heck and Titus voted for the amendment; Hardy and Amodei voted against it.
LIGHT BULB STANDARDS UPHELD
The House rejected an amendment that would have essentially rescinded energy-efficiency regulations that did away with high-wattage, incandescent light bulbs.
Rep. Michael Burgess, R-Texas, said the 2007 law effectively phasing out 100-, 60- and 45-watt bulbs is a burden to families faced with replacing these household staples with more expensive bulbs.
Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, opposed the amendment, saying consumers have many more choices now because the regulation spurred marketplace innovation.
“Modern incandescent bulbs, compact fluorescent light bulbs, and LEDs of every shape, size, and color are now available. Consumers never had more choices,” she said.
The amendment was rejected 177-244, meaning the efficiency standards will stay in place.
Amodei voted for the amendment; Hardy, Heck and Titus voted against it.
Contact Peter Urban at purban@reviewjournal.com or at 202-783-1760.
