Appropriators foresee tough times if McCain wins White House

The already acrimonious appropriations process might have trouble even getting off the ground next year if Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., wins the presidency, unless he changes his position on earmarks, both Democrats and Republicans said in recent interviews.

Comment on this article in The Forum.McCain has long railed against members' pet projects, particularly when they are inserted in bills without scrutiny or a vote.

McCain has pledged, if elected, to veto bills that include wasteful earmarks. The position, which he firmed up last week by tapping Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a fiscal conservative, as his running mate, puts him on a collision course with appropriators, who say the practice is protected under the Constitution.

"It is always challenging; no executive likes appropriators, but we will still appropriate and the people's business will get done," said Senate Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Christopher (Kit) Bond, R-Mo.

House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman John Murtha, D-Pa., said McCain seems to think that the president appropriates money. "He would have to learn how it works, that's for sure, if he wants to get anything done," Murtha said.

Recent years have the seen the appropriations process riven with strife.

For fiscal year 2009, which begins Oct. 1, Democratic leaders have said they do not intend to pass all 12 annual spending bills. Instead, they expect to pass a continuing resolution to fund the government at fiscal year 2008 levels until a new president and Congress take office.

Senate Military Construction-VA Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said she believes that, if elected, McCain would work with Congress to find a way to permit reasonable earmarks.

"I have worked with John for a long time, and I have found that if he questions one of my projects and I tell him what the importance of it is, he listens, and sometimes he will agree that, yes, it does have merit and sometimes he doesn't. But I have found him to be fair," Hutchison said.

She also stressed that McCain would understand how to work with Congress, adding, "He knows that he will win some [confrontations with Congress] and he will lose some."

Senate Transportation-HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., predicted difficult times under a McCain administration.

"I think ... the way that this country is supposed to work -- with people elected from across the country to represent their districts and fight for what they believe in -- would be seriously undermined," said Murray, who is also secretary of the Democratic Conference.

Some House Republicans, including House Military Construction-VA Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., and Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., hope a McCain presidency would help reform the earmarking process.

It was under Republican majorities that earmarking surged to its current form, said Flake, pointing the blame at GOP leaders for using the appropriations process to shore up vulnerable incumbents. Flake blames Democrats for continuing the trend.

But House Defense Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member C.W. (Bill) Young, R-Fla., a former Appropriations Committee chairman, said responsible earmarks play an important role.

He pointed to earmarks he obtained for the National Bone Marrow Donor Program, which is now in the president's budget. "It saves a life every day," he said. "To me that earmark was really worthwhile."