House conservatives have reportedly secured a floor vote for a radical sunset commission proposal that would ram program terminations through Congress. A Brief Overview To ensure passage of the House Fiscal Year 2007 budget resolution, House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) reportedly struck a deal with Republican Study Committee (RSC) leaders for floor consideration of several proposals, including a presidential line-item veto and a proposal to institute sunset commissions. Although the House leadership was unable to line up enough votes to complete work on the budget resolution, no reports have surfaced that suggest the promises to the RSC have been negated. Some reports place the floor vote on sunsets as early as June. Though various versions of the sunset commission concept have floated through Congress, the leading proposals in the House are two bills: one by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), mirroring a White House proposal, and one introduced by Rep. Todd Tiahrt (R-KS). Both would create unelected commissions that would recommend which programs get to live or die. They would also create mechanisms to fast-track the recommendations through Congress and require straight up or down votes with no opportunity for amendments. Usurping Congressional Authority The White House budget routinely proposes cuts, elimination, or drastic changes to government programs. Popular and successful programs, such as the Community Development Block Grants, have faced cuts and overhauls in the President's budget repeatedly for the last several years. These programs survived because Congress has intervened and continued to authorize funding and provide annual appropriations. The sunset commission proposal, however, would undermine Congress's ability to save programs that the White House is bent on eliminating. If a sunset commission were to go forward, these programs would likely be the first to face the ax. The Tiahrt bill specifically requires the White House to evaluate program effectiveness, making it likely that the White House's programs slated for termination will be the first to come before the sunset commission. At the same time, the fast track process will make it difficult for Congress to save the programs facing elimination. Below are some examples of programs that have been suggested for termination by the White House and are likely to face the sunset commission early on, if such a commission were enacted.

• Community Development Programs: The Community Development Block Grant, which provides funds to state and local governments for a variety of development projects, is a common target both of the White House and of the RSC.
• Education Programs: Programs that help develop and retain quality teachers, such as the Teacher Quality Enhancement Program and the Perkins Loan Cancellation program, which forgives the 100 percent of Perkins loan debt for public school teachers in underserved communities, could be in jeopardy. Education programs targeting rural, low-income or at-risk youth are also often zeroed out in the President's budget. These programs include Upward Bound and Even Start.
• Rural Community Programs: In both 2006 and 2007, the White House has recommended the termination of a host of programs meant to serve rural communities, including the Rural Fire Assistance program, which provides grants to rural communities to bolster the capacity of volunteer fire departments through training, equipment purchases and fire prevention work, and the Community Connect Grant Program, which provides broadband to rural communities to support economic growth and enhance education, health care, and public safety services,
• Healthcare: Federal grants that underwrite the construction of healthcare centers and provide funding for a host of medical services are likely at risk. The 2006 and 2007 White House budgets have targeted for elimination the Center for Disease Control and Prevention's Preventative Health and Health Services Block Grant, the primary source of flexible preventative health funding for states.

While a far vaster universe of agency programs would be subjected to a sunset commission, the above examples have been targeted by both the White House and the RSC for termination. Congress has saved these programs in the past through the appropriations process, but the creation of a sunset commission might make this program hit list a reality, rather than a fantasy of the White House and hard-line conservative lawmakers.