House Passes deficit reduction act of 2005: Bill makes Significant Cuts to Agriculture & Energy programs

Early this morning, November 18, the House of Representatives voted to pass, H.R. 4241, the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005.  The bill passed 217 to 215 with 14 Republicans and all the House Democrats opposing the bill.   This came after a long Veterans holiday weekend followed by a week filled with conversations on what changes to make to provide the Republican leadership enough votes to pass the bill. The final package passed by the House still eliminates support for Sec. 9006 Renewable Energy & Energy Efficiency Program and Sec. 6401 Value-Add Grant Program.

The bill was originally scheduled to go to the House floor one week ago but was quickly pulled when the House leadership did not have the votes.  With two late night sessions in the Rules Committee, the House leadership dropped language from the bill which would have allowed drilling in the Alaska Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and in the Offshore Continental Shelf (OCS); reduced cuts in foodstamps; and curtailed cuts to Medicaid and student lunch programs.

The House and Senate now will have to go to conference to work out the differences between the two bills.  The Senate bill calls for $35 billion in cuts, considerably less then the House bill, and does not eliminate funding for Sec. 9006 or 6401.   Conferees have not been announced but it can be assumed that each Chair and Ranking Member from each committee involved in reconciliation will be members of the conference committee. The Conference Committee could get underway very soon.  

The other piece of budget reconciliation is the tax cut package, which the House has not yet taken up. Senate passed their tax package 64-33 last night.

If you have questions, please email or call Jetta Wong at jwong@eesi.org or (202) 662-1885.  For more information on the House Deficit Reduction Act of 2005, see: http://www.house.gov/budget/.

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