Big Blow For House GOP
Spending cuts to rural health care programs prompted Republicans House members from Kansas and Missouri to break with their party and help defeat legislation to fund many of the nation's health, education and social programs.
The 224-209 vote against the $142.5 billion spending bill disrupted plans by Republican leaders to finish up work on 11 spending bills funding government operations.
"The health care delivery system in rural Kansas and Missouri is very fragile," said Rep. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., who voted against the measure. "There has to be somebody that steps forward and says there is a real problem here in nearly zeroing out a number of programs related to rural health care."
CBS News correspondent Bob Fuss called the bill's rejection an "embarrassing and unexpected loss for House Republican leaders."
That's at least in part because the last time the House Republican leadership lost a vote on the final version of a major spending bill was 1995, Fuss reports.
In the Senate, Republicans beat back Democratic attempts Thursday to use a $60 billion tax bill to pinch oil and energy companies that have been reporting record profits while consumers pay high gasoline prices.
Fuss adds that the Senate will probably pass the bill, but that the House has not passed its version of a tax cut bill, which will be quite different.
The bill, which would prevent a number of individual and business tax breaks from expiring, already levies more than $4 billion in taxes on major oil companies.
House Democrats were unanimous in opposing the one-year appropriation bill, which included the first cut in education funding in a decade and slashed spending for key educational programs such as Head Start and No Child Left Behind.
But it was the 22 GOP defections that sent it down to defeat.
Rep. Jo Ann Emerson, R-Mo., said she was "fed up" with the dramatic cuts that would impact her rural district in southeastern Missouri. Funding for rural health research, for example, would drop from $8.8 million annually to zero. The bill would also eliminate a half million dollars in funding for rural emergency medical services and cut funds to attract health care professionals to rural areas.
"I see a huge erosion in the support for rural health care," she said. "I cannot sell out my district."
Other Missouri and Kansas Republicans all voted in favor of the bill.
Some Republicans speculated they may have lost votes because this year's bill included no special projects or earmarks for lawmakers. "You take those out and you lose the incentive," said Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., who voted for the bill.
Democrats, meanwhile, hailed the vote as a major defeat for Republicans.
"Americans everywhere can breathe a sigh of relief that there are still those in government who recognize a responsibility to work for them and not for a privileged few," Rep. Russ Carnahan, D-Mo., said in a statement.
Some Democrats questioned whether the Republican Party misses the vote-gathering powers of Texas Rep. Tom DeLay, nicknamed "The Hammer." DeLay has stepped aside as majority leader because of legal problems and is being temporarily replaced by Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo.
"Not every blunt instrument is a hammer," joked Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass.
But Blunt's office was quick to point out that House leaders are not responsible for corralling the votes on appropriations measures.
"It's certainly not a statement on the leadership," said Blunt spokeswoman Burson Taylor. "There are very, very disparate reasons for the opposition to this bill and really no overarching theme."
As for the energy amendments, they face opposition from the Republican majority and stood little chance of success. But they reflected attentiveness on Capitol Hill to high gasoline prices and fears of skyrocketing home heating costs this winter.
Some GOP senators already were unhappy with tax writers because the bill included a change in accounting methods that would hit the largest integrated oil companies with $4.3 billion in taxes. Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said he would vote against the bill if the tax increase remained intact.
"Is it a windfall tax by another name?" Craig said.
Lawmakers were alarmed this fall when profit reports showed five major companies and their global parent corporations earned more than $32.8 billion in the July to September quarter.
Consumers saw gasoline prices soar beyond $3 a gallon in the aftermath of supply disruptions caused by hurricanes, and the politicians called oil executives to Capitol Hill to explain their huge profits.
The Senate defeated a proposal that would have eliminated a tax incentive for major oil and gas companies that allows them a credit for exploration and development cost. An amendment to ban price gouging during national energy emergencies declared by the president won the support of 57 senators but fell short of 60 votes needed to overcome a procedural hurdle.
The overall bill would cut taxes $60 billion over five years, preserving many tax breaks scheduled to expire unless lawmakers keep them intact. Unlike a version passed by a House committee, the bill would not extend reduced tax rates for capital gains and dividends. Senate GOP leaders vowed to make sure the 15 percent tax rate for investment income will be in the final version of the bill.
The bill would hold back the alternative minimum tax, which will reach into the pockets of millions more taxpayers next year unless Congress prevents inflation from pushing the tax into the middle class. Lawmakers instituted the tax to prevent the wealthy from avoiding all taxation.
The bill also would offer $7 billion in assistance to businesses and individuals hit by Hurricane Katrina and other storms, filling in details of President Bush's proposed Gulf Opportunity Zone.
Other provisions would extend a deduction for state and local sales taxes, investment incentives for small businesses, a business research and development credit and a tuition deduction. Taxpayers would get new incentives to make charitable contributions, at the same time as tax-writers put new curbs on breaks for charity that they've deemed abusive.