Lynne Halbrooks, Principal Deputy Inspector General, Defense Department, testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday March 19, 2013, before the House Oversight Committee hearing: ìDOD and DHS: Implementing Agency Watchdogsí Recommendations Could Save Taxpayers Billionsî.WASHINGTON – A dispute over budget cuts that threaten dozens of smaller control towers with closure slowed Senate progress Tuesday on legislation to avoid a government shutdown on March 27.
Sen. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., refused repeatedly to permit final passage of the measure unless Democrats first allow a vote on his plan for erasing most of the cuts aimed at towers operated by Federal Aviation Administration contract employees.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., just as persistently declined to give in, and other Democrats noted that House Republicans had rejected calls to give all federal agencies the type of budget flexibility that Moran was seeking.
The test of wills endured as Republicans and Democrats in Congress struggled with two goals – ensuring there is no interruption of routine government funding while simultaneously vying for political advantage in the wake of $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts that kicked in earlier this month.
Across the Capitol, the Republican-controlled House began debate on a budget that promises to eliminate federal deficits in decade. The blueprint, authored by Rep. Paul Ryan, D-Wis., calls for $6.4 trillion in spending cuts and no tax increases, and is expected to clear by week’s end.