White House Threatens to Veto House CJS Appropriations Bill

The Obama Administration has threatened to veto the FY2013 Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill that is scheduled for floor debate beginning tomorrow.  In its Statement of Administration Policy (SAP) released today, the Administration says that it “strongly opposes” passage of the bill for a long list of reasons including cuts to NOAA’s budget and to NASA’s budget for commercial crew.

The SAP begins by criticizing the overall funding level for the bill, H.R. 5326.  The White House notes that the House adopted lower total spending levels for the federal government than what was agreed to last summer in the Budget Control Act.  It says the lower funding level overall will “cost jobs and hurt average Americans. especially seniors, veterans, and children … [and] degrade many of the basic Government services on which the American people rely such as air traffic control and law enforcement.”

It goes on to list specific objections to different parts of the bill and states “If the president were presented with H.R. 5326, his senior advisors would recommend that he veto the bill.”

Regarding NOAA and NASA, the statement says:

NOAA: “The Administration strongly opposes the $93 million reduction in funding from the FY 2013 Budget request for NOAA. This cut would impact negatively NOAA’s ability to support the Nation’s fisheries and oceans stewardship programs such as protected species programs, which would be cut by $16 million below the FY 2013 Budget request and $20 million below the FY 2012 enacted level. Decreased funding for Protected Species Research and Management could lead to delays in permitting or consultations and result in the development of less precise measures, which could have economic impacts on coastal industries such as fisheries, agriculture, oil and gas development, and coastal construction. The Administration appreciates the Committee’s support for mission-critical satellite programs.”  

NASA:  “The Administration strongly opposes the level of funding provided for the commercial crew program, which is $330 million below the FY 2013 Budget request, as well as restrictive report language that would eliminate competition in the program. This would increase the time the United States will be required to rely solely on foreign providers to transport American astronauts to and from the space station. While the Administration appreciates the overall funding level provided to NASA, the bill provides some NASA programs with unnecessary increases at the expense of other important initiatives.”