The end of a VA-HUD Subcommittee?
As we discussed earlier, Congress is rethinking its committee structures. Now, via the National Council of State Housing Agencies, more details are emerging:
On the spending front, newly seated House Appropriations Committee Chairman Jerry Lewis (R-CA) has proposed eliminating the House Appropriations HUD-VA Subcommittee and two other appropriations subcommittees. Under his plan, the Transportation-Treasury Subcommittee would assume jurisdiction over HUD programs.
Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL) and Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-TX) have endorsed Lewis’ plan. Lewis and House Republican leaders say the changes would streamline the appropriations process by reducing the number of bills Congress must pass from 13 to 10.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Thad Cochran (R-MS) has not yet agreed to the changes. However, House leaders say they may go ahead with the plan with or without Senate approval. Differing House and Senate subcommittee jurisdictions would complicate the already difficult process of writing appropriations bills.
In a masterpiece of understatement, NCSHA observes:
The reorganization could have significant implications for HUD programs. On the one hand, HUD would no longer directly compete for funding with NASA, which would shift to the Energy and Water spending bill, or with veterans’ programs, which would move to the Military Construction spending bill. However, it would compete with the Transportation and Treasury Departments, the U.S. Postal Service, and a variety of other independent agencies.
If HUD were so orphaned, might GSE regulation migrate from HUD to Treasury, as has already been suggested?
Meanwhile, the telling quote is this:
Former HUD Appropriations Subcommittee Chairman James Walsh (R-NY) may take over as chairman of the restructured Transportation-Treasury Subcommittee. Walsh was forced to step down from his position as HUD Appropriations Subcommittee chairman because of Republican term limits.
Mr. Walsh is a capable and hard-working centrist who had been reluctant to leave VA-HUD. A plan that shifted HUD into Transportation wouldn’t lose Mr. Walsh power; instead HUD would follow him to his new venue.
UPDATE: Congressional Quarterly (subscription required) adds the following tidbits:
With the proposal, DeLay, R-Texas, also has put the new chairman of the full Senate Appropriations Committee, Thad Cochran, R-Miss., in a tough spot. If the Senate were to reject the plan, it could make it quite difficult to complete spending bills should the House proceeded with its shift.
[Missouri Senator Kit] Bond — a powerful inside player — is said to be furiously opposed and Cochran’s sympathies lie naturally with him and his fellow Senate appropriators.
That is why the reorganization plan, advanced Jan. 26 by House Appropriations Chairman Jerry Lewis, R-Calif., which would eviscerate the jurisdiction of the Veterans Affairs, Housing and Urban Development and Independent Agencies (VA-HUD) Subcommittee — and shake up other subcommittees — is no sure thing.
