Articles from April 2001

• Tax Constitutional Amendment Falls Short
  The House on April 25 failed to pass a proposed constitutional amendment that would have made it more difficult to enact legislation raising taxes. The amendment (H. Res. 41) failed on a vote of 232-189, 49 votes fewer than the two-thirds majority required to pass a constitutional amendment. An annual ritual, the proposed amendment garnered two less votes than last year, when it failed by a vote of 234-192. The amendment would have required legislation raising taxes to be passed by two-thirds of the House and Senate, not just a simple majority as is now the case.
• House and Senate Negotiate Budget Differences
  With Congress just returning from a two-week Easter recess, there has only been minimal progress by House and Senate negotiators who are working out differences between their respective FY 2002 budget resolutions. The House passed its version (H. Con. Res. 83) on March 28 by a vote of 222-205. The Senate passed its version on April 6 by a vote of 65-35.
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• Bush Budget Dead Before Arrival
  As expected, a detailed version of President Bush’s $1.96 trillion budget was submitted to Congress on April 9, several days after the Senate had passed its budget resolution and both chambers of Congress had left for a two week recess. Initially, administration strategists had hoped that delaying the submission of the detailed plan would make it easier for Congress to pass a broad budget outline that mirrored the president’s proposals. Doing so, it was thought, would allow the administration to trumpet its tax cut without shedding too much light on politically unpalatable spending cuts.
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