Job Competition Restrictions Out of Spending Bill Most federal agencies are looking for an early Christmas present: their 2005 appropriations, which were due before Halloween. Both houses of Congress agreed to a $388 billion Omnibus Appropriations bill combining nine separate spending measures that fund 14 civilian departments and agencies. Final passage was delayed because of a provision that would have allowed congressional appropriations committees to examine individual tax returns. Senators demanded that the provision be removed, and the House is due to meet Dec. 6 to comply and send the appropriations measure to President Bush. The final bill drops restrictions on the president’s competitive sourcing initiative and eliminates a provision that would have rolled back the administration’s new rules on overtime pay. It also reauthorizes Small Business Administration programs. Spending for all agencies except the departments of Defense and Homeland Security will be essentially flat in 2005. In what has become an annual ritual, the House-Senate conference committee killed restrictions on competitive sourcing after the White House threatened a veto. Restrictions on the initiative have been approved by one or both houses of Congress for the past three years, only to disappear in conference. This year’s amendment, sponsored by Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) with strong backing from federal employee unions, would have prohibited the use of the revised OMB Circular A-76, the rulebook for competitive sourcing. The House had passed the amendment for the second year in a row. Also killed were provisions that would have given employees in units of 10 people or more the right to reorganize their work into most efficient organizations before a competition was held; and a requirement that contractors beat the government’s cost by at least 10% in those small competitions. “The American taxpayer is the big winner under this legislation,” said Chris Jahn, president of the Contract Services Association. Union leaders vowed to try again.