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Government
& Public Affairs Update
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Government &
Public Affairs Practice Group Leader
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Government & Public
Affairs Team
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House and Senate Pass FY 2010 Budget
Resolutions
On February 26, President Obama
announced his Administration's budget for the federal government
during Fiscal Year 2010 (FY10), which consisted of $1.1 trillion
for discretionary spending, $533.7 billion in defense spending
and $599.1 billion in non-defense discretionary spending.
Like the President's economic stimulus bill earlier this year, his
FY10 Budget was embraced by Congressional Democrats but rejected by
Republicans. Neither the House nor the Senate Budget
Resolutions garnered a single GOP vote.
The House and Senate passed separate versions of the FY10 Budget
Resolution on April 2, intending to conference the bill when
Congress returns next week, with the goal of quickly
producing one resolution that both Chambers can pass. The
differences between the two resolutions are relatively minor;
however, the matter of including instructions for "budget
reconciliation" for health care reform in the House version has
drawn Republican ire.
Pending a conference agreement on the FY10 Budget Resolution, the
Appropriations Committees will begin scheduling hearings in their
subcommittees to begin drafting each of the 12 spending bills.
The current fiscal year ends on September 30.
For a more in-depth perspective of the FY10 Budget, click here.
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Earmark Reform
Last month,
Democratic Leadership announced additional safeguards for ensuring
that the earmark process is more transparent. As a part of
Congress' power to control federal spending, individual members have
used that authority to direct federal spending to projects in their
home districts (commonly referred to as
"earmarks"). However, in the wake of the Jack
Abramoff and other scandals involving lavish gifts and bribes given
to Members of Congress in return for favors, earmarks have gained an
increasingly negative reputation nationally but, for the most part,
are still appreciated locally where the money flows.
In addition to measures enacted by Democrats when they took control
of Congress in 2007, two more reforms have been adopted in the House
and one in the Senate as a part of the FY10 approrpiations
process. The House has adopted an increased Executive Branch
review, which gives the appropriate Executive Branch agency 20 days
to review the project to ensure that the project sponsor is eligible
to receive funds and meet goals established in law. The second
measure, adopted by both the House and the Senate, requires that the
Executive Branch ensures that any earmark that is to be directed to a
for-profit entity will be awarded through a competitive bidding
process.
In addition, House Members were required to publicly display their
requests on their websites by April 3. Links to each of the
Michigan Congressional Delegation's disclosure pages is provided
below.
Rep.
John Conyers
Rep.
John Dingell
Rep.
Vern Ehlers
Rep.
Pete Hoekstra
Rep.
Dale Kildee
Rep.
Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick
Rep.
Sander Levin
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter did not submit FY10 requests.
Rep.
Candice Miller
Rep.
Gary Peters
Rep.
Mike Rogers
Rep.
Mark Schauer
Rep.
Bart Stupak
Rep.
Fred Upton
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House T&I
Solicits Road and Transit Projects
House Transportation and
Infrastructure (T&I) Chairman Jim Oberstar (D-MN) and Ranking
Member John Mica (R-FL) sent a letter to Members of the House of
Representatives asking for information pertaining to any local transportation
projects (also commonly called earmarks) that Members would like to
have included in the upcoming surface transportation reauthorization
bill. SAFTEA-LU, the last five-year bill passed that authorized
$289 billion in surface transportation spending, expires on September
30, 2009.
The letter also outlines a number of principles that the T&I
Committee has adopted for Member-designated projects, and notifies
Members of a hearing scheduled for April 28 which will give them an
opportunity to share publicly the needs of their district and the
merits of their project requests.
To read the Committee's reform principles, click here.
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If you have any questions concerning these issues,
please contact Chris Wagner at 202.772.0924 or cwagner@clarkhill.com.
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To find out
more about Clark Hill and our Government & Public Affairs
Practice Group, visit clarkhill.com
or call 800.949.3124
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