OMB threatens veto over House GOP spending resolution
February 15, 2011 | 06:31 PM
By JERRY HAGSTROM
The White House Office of Management and Budget threatened today that President Obama would veto a spending bill similar to the continuing resolution that the House of Representatives is considering, while two key renewable fuels groups came down hard on anti-ethanol amendments offered to that bill.
“The administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 1, making appropriations for the Department of Defense and the other departments and agencies of the government for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes,” OMB said in a news release.
“The administration is committed to cutting spending and reducing the deficit so that current government spending does not add to the debt and has put forward a plan to do just that. However, the administration does not support deep cuts that will undermine our ability to out-educate, out-build, and out-innovate the rest of the world. The bill proposes cuts that would sharply undermine core government functions and investments key to economic growth and job creation, and would reduce funding for the Department of Defense to a level that would leave the department without the resources and flexibility needed to meet vital military requirements.”
To emphasize the point, OMB added, “If the president is presented with a bill that undermines critical priorities or national security through funding levels or restrictions, contains earmarks, or curtails the drivers of long-term economic growth and job creation while continuing to burden future generations with deficits, the President will veto the bill."
Renewable fuels groups today came out against anti-ethanol amendments offered by Reps. John Sullivan, R-Okla., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., saying they would perpetuate the nation’s addiction to foreign oil.
The Sullivan amendment would eliminate funding for the EPA to implement the move to E15 ethanol blends, and the Flake amendment would bar USDA funds from helping to install blender pumps. The amendments were offered to the Republican House proposal for a continuing resolution to fund the government from March 4 through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
“Denying Americans a choice at the pump is not an energy strategy,” the Renewable Fuels Association said in a statement. “Neither America nor the world can drill itself out of the energy crisis we are facing.
“Consumers must be given a choice at the pump, allowing them to use as much or as little ethanol as they want. Empowering consumer choice, not forcing them to swallow increasing amounts of imported oil, is the only way to help America become more energy self-reliant.”
Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis said both amendments would perpetuate the nation's dependence on foreign oil.
“The Sullivan amendment injects politics where it doesn’t belong – in regulatory affairs that are decided by sound science rather than politics,” Buis said. “A full and immediate move to E15 would create more than 136,000 new jobs in the U.S., reduce our dependence on foreign oil by 7 billion gallons, reduce harmful emissions equivalent to removing 1.35 million cars from the road, and revitalize our rural communities. At the same time, preventing the administration from implementing policies that will develop our nation's renewable fuel infrastructure will only limit consumer choice at the pump and maintain the status quo.”
The White House Office of Management and Budget threatened today that President Obama would veto a spending bill similar to the continuing resolution that the House of Representatives is considering, while two key renewable fuels groups came down hard on anti-ethanol amendments offered to that bill.
“The administration strongly opposes House passage of H.R. 1, making appropriations for the Department of Defense and the other departments and agencies of the government for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2011, and for other purposes,” OMB said in a news release.
“The administration is committed to cutting spending and reducing the deficit so that current government spending does not add to the debt and has put forward a plan to do just that. However, the administration does not support deep cuts that will undermine our ability to out-educate, out-build, and out-innovate the rest of the world. The bill proposes cuts that would sharply undermine core government functions and investments key to economic growth and job creation, and would reduce funding for the Department of Defense to a level that would leave the department without the resources and flexibility needed to meet vital military requirements.”
To emphasize the point, OMB added, “If the president is presented with a bill that undermines critical priorities or national security through funding levels or restrictions, contains earmarks, or curtails the drivers of long-term economic growth and job creation while continuing to burden future generations with deficits, the President will veto the bill."
Renewable fuels groups today came out against anti-ethanol amendments offered by Reps. John Sullivan, R-Okla., and Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., saying they would perpetuate the nation’s addiction to foreign oil.
The Sullivan amendment would eliminate funding for the EPA to implement the move to E15 ethanol blends, and the Flake amendment would bar USDA funds from helping to install blender pumps. The amendments were offered to the Republican House proposal for a continuing resolution to fund the government from March 4 through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30.
“Denying Americans a choice at the pump is not an energy strategy,” the Renewable Fuels Association said in a statement. “Neither America nor the world can drill itself out of the energy crisis we are facing.
“Consumers must be given a choice at the pump, allowing them to use as much or as little ethanol as they want. Empowering consumer choice, not forcing them to swallow increasing amounts of imported oil, is the only way to help America become more energy self-reliant.”
Growth Energy CEO Tom Buis said both amendments would perpetuate the nation's dependence on foreign oil.
“The Sullivan amendment injects politics where it doesn’t belong – in regulatory affairs that are decided by sound science rather than politics,” Buis said. “A full and immediate move to E15 would create more than 136,000 new jobs in the U.S., reduce our dependence on foreign oil by 7 billion gallons, reduce harmful emissions equivalent to removing 1.35 million cars from the road, and revitalize our rural communities. At the same time, preventing the administration from implementing policies that will develop our nation's renewable fuel infrastructure will only limit consumer choice at the pump and maintain the status quo.”
