FY 2005 Budget Still on Hold
April 23, 2004 - House and Senate Republicans are
still trying to resolve their differences and complete action
on a conference agreement on the FY 2005 Budget Resolution
(S.
Con. Res. 95). Negotiators had hoped to finish their work
and move a conference report to the House floor this week,
but were unable to reach agreement on several issues. A major
area of disagreement is the insistence by several moderate
Republican Senators that future tax cuts must be offset by
spending cuts or other revenue increases, a condition opposed
by the House Republican leadership. Another area of disagreement
is whether to require a cut in mandatory spending programs
such as Medicaid. The House approved a five-year plan calling
for $13 billion in savings from mandatory programs while the
Senate rejected a more modest proposal.
One item on which the House and Senate agree is the limit
on FY 2005 discretionary spending; i.e., funding determined
through the annual appropriations process for programs like
NIH and the VA. Both the House and Senate versions of the
budget recommend $821 billion in discretionary spending, about
$2 billion less than the President's FY 2005 request. Of even
greater concern is that this proposal would freeze domestic
spending unrelated to homeland security at current levels,
which will make it difficult for appropriators to craft bills
that will win approval in an election year. Just how grueling
the appropriations process will be this year may be determined
in the next few weeks as House and Senate appropriators decide
on their 302(b) allocations, which set spending limits for
each of the 13 appropriations subcommittees.
Information:
Dave Moore, Senior Director
AAMC Government Relations
dbmoore@aamc.org
(202) 828-0525
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