Budget Alert: March 27, 2007

Reid Files Cloture on War Supplemental; White House Promises Veto

Anticipating a Senate Republican filibuster, late yesterday Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid filed cloture on the FY 2007 War Supplemental.

Context: Senate rules in most cases allow for unlimited debate and votes on measures do not occur until debate is concluded. Therefore, votes may be blocked simply be engaging in extended debate. This is known as a "filibuster." The "cloture" procedure allows 60 Senators to vote to end debate on a matter, thereby shutting down a filibuster. While filibusters used to be rare, with the close partisan split in the Senate, filibusters are threatened frequently and filing for cloture has become a routine practice for the majority party on contentious matters.

The Senate bill, reported last Thursday by the Senate Appropriations Committee, would direct the President, within 120 days of enactment, to begin to redeploy the troops from Iraq, with a goal of having only a limited number of troops remaining in the country on March 31, 2008.

This morning the White House issued a veto threat on the Senate bill, stating in part: "This legislation would substitute Congressional mandates for the considered judgment of our military commanders. This bill assumes and forces the failure of the new strategy even before American commanders in the field are able to fully implement their plans....If this legislation were presented to the President, he would veto the bill."

The Statement of Administration Policy also states that the President would veto the bill due "billions in unrequested spending that is largely unjustified and non-emergency."

OMB Veto Threat

WBR Comparison of Spending in the Senate and House FY 2007 Supplemental Bills with the President's Request

See yesterday's WBR weekly report, providing a comprehensive wrap-up report on Senate action last week on the FY 2008 Budget Resolution.