Sen. Lott under fire from House Republicans over spending bill

By Chris Black/CNN

April 5, 2000
Web posted at: 5:43 p.m. EDT (2143 GMT)

WASHINGTON (CNN) - Key House Republicans joined the White House on Wednesday in criticizing Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Mississippi) for blocking a supplemental spending bill that contains emergency funding for farmers and communities ravaged by natural disasters, among other items.

In a letter to Lott, five senior House lawmakers urged the Mississippi senator to reverse his decision, arguing Senate action on the legislation -- approved by the House last week -- was "both warranted and essential."

In addition to farmers and natural disaster areas, the bill contains money to fight drug trafficking in Columbia and additional funds for peacekeeping operations in Kosovo.

White House spokesman Joe Lockhart was also harshly critical of the decision on Wednesday. "It's very disappointing that we have this process where we send a very reasonable package to the House, they add to it, and then the Senate -- the same Republican leaders in the Senate -- say, 'Well, we're not going to do this because it's gotten too big.' I think it's very important that we get down to business, they take another look at this and see that there are some true national urgent needs associated with this bill.''

The House members' letter said: "We are deeply troubled by the approach advocated by some senators to break the supplemental bill apart and pass it piecemeal as part of as many as 12 different fiscal year 2001 appropriations bills.''

Lott said he was going to kill the spending bill because it was too big. It grew from $5.5 billion when requested by President Clinton to $13.2 billion by the time it left the House.

Lott told the president on Monday that the Senate would meet the emergency needs in the regular appropriations process. And Lott has told Senators that he views this decision as a way to put pressure on the Senate Appropriations Committee to act quickly on spending bills for the 2001 fiscal year, which begins October 1. In the last few years, the appropriations process has dragged past the beginning of the fiscal year because of partisan differences over spending priorities.

Lott overruled his own Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens of Alaska, who scrapped plans to draft a version of the supplemental bill after the two met late Monday night.

Senate Democratic Leader Tom Daschle (South Dakota) earlier Wednesday described Lott's decision as "a mistake.''

House lawmakers signing onto the letter were: Republican Reps. Bill Young (Alaska), chairman of the Appropriations Committee; Jerry Lewis (California), chairman of the Defense Subcommittee on Appropriations; Floyd Spence (South Carolina), chairman of the Armed Services Committee, as well as Democrats John Murtha (Pennsylvania), the top Democrat on the Appropriations Defense Subcommittee; and Ike Skelton (Missouri), the top Democrat on the Armed Services Committee.