Capital perspective.

• Author: Baker, Jason

GREETINGS FROM WASHINGTON. As Election Day 2010 nears, the United States Congress--despite historically-low job approval ratings--has once again delayed much of its work in order to hit the campaign trail hard during the month of October before what could be a historic midterm election. This article will update you on the current state of play with NDAA's National Advocacy Center (NAC), the John R. Justice Loan Repayment Program (JRJ), other legislation of interest to America's prosecutors and what the 2010 election could mean for NDAA.

FY'11 Appropriations

As has been the trend over the past several election cycles, Congress has once again delayed passing its yearly mandatory spending bills until after the mid-term elections; however, in a departure from past trends, all 12 spending bills-including the FY' 11 Defense and Homeland Security Appropriation bills--have yet to pass Congress. Defense and Homeland Security spending is always at the forefront of Congressional business and usually pass prior to the start of each fiscal year, highlighting the extreme spirit of partisanship in Washington during 2010.

What does this mean to NDAA? It could mean a number of things for the NAC, JRJ and other criminal justice-related bills, depending on the outcome of the election. Before Congress adjourned, it passed a Continuing Resolution (CR) to keep the government funded at current levels until early December. If Democrats are able to maintain control of both houses of Congress, the House and the Senate will reconvene in mid-November in a "Lame Duck" session, complete work on all 12 mandatory spending bills, combine all 12 separate bills into a massive "Omnibus" spending measure and pass the bill around December 1.

Now, if the Republicans are able to win enough seats in either the House or the Senate to take the majority away from the Democrats, the forecast becomes much more cloudy and difficult to predict. If Republicans were to win the majority in the House or Senate (or both), they would not assume their control until the 112th Congress is sworn in during January 2011, leaving Democrats in charge for the remainder of 2010. Democrats, who many believe would then see the Lame Duck session as their last opportunity to pass items on their agenda before the 2012 Presidential Election, could force a slew of votes on literally hundreds of bills. Republicans, in retaliation, would use procedural stall tactics (like the filibuster) to delay all contentious legislation until adjournment--including most or all of the FY' 11 spending bills, which contain yearly funding for the NAC and JRJ.

In a different scenario, upon a Republican takeover of either the House or Senate, Republicans could force the passage of a long-term CR, and re-write each of the 12 spending bills for FY'11 when they assume the majority and work on...