Posted on 01/30/2007 11:47:33 AM PST by jdm
WASHINGTON - Democrats have unveiled a massive spending bill combining the budgets of 13 Cabinet agencies with increases in aid for lower-income college students, while cutting President Bush's funding requests for foreign aid and closing military bases.
House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, Tuesday slammed Democrats' plans to advance the huge $463.5 billion measure through the House on Wednesday without giving Republicans or rank and file Democrats a chance to offer changes in an Appropriations Committee session or on the floor.
Most lawmakers — and the public — were to get their first chances to read the budget tome Tuesday, barely a day before the House was supposed to vote it up or down.
"If we're going to spend $463 billion of the taxpayers' funds, we ought to have more than an hours' worth of debate, Boehner said. "And maybe the (Democratic) majority ought to let Democrats and Republicans offer amendments."
But Democrats such as Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (news, bio, voting record) of Wisconsin had little sympathy, saying Republicans wouldn't make tough budget choices before the election and didn't try to clean up the mess afterward in a lame duck session.
The bill would freeze most federal accounts at 2006 levels, though there are numerous exceptions so agencies can avoid furloughs and hiring freezes, and for a few programs favored by Democrats such as health research and education.
And politically sacrosanct programs such as medical care for veterans and active-duty military personnel eat up much of an approximately $10 billion-to-$12 billion pot scraped together by staff aides by freezing other accounts. Veterans would receive $3.5 billion over last year for medical coverage, while active duty fighters and their families would benefit from a 6 percent hike.
Also among the beneficiaries is the National Institutes of Health, which would receive a $620 million budget hike, about 2 percent. The FBI, facing hiring curbs, would get a modest $200 million increase in its $6 billion budget.
The maximum Pell Grant for lower-income college students would increase by $260 to $4,310. While modest, it's the first increase since 2003.
Activists pressing for big boosts to combat AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis overseas won a $1.3 billion increase — to $4.5 billion. That's enough to fund the president's $225 million initiative to fight malaria and increase the U.S. contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria to $724 million.
But Bush's request for the Millennium Challenge Corporation, which channels foreign aid to countries implementing economic and political reforms, appears frozen.
Some of Bush's initiatives, such as a $5.5 billion request to implement a round of military base closures passed two years ago, absorbed deep cuts. Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England warned lawmakers last month that shortfalls for the base closing initiative "could result in postponing scheduled redeployments from overseas stations to the United States" as well as slow the Army's moves to boost overseas deployment in smaller, more nimble fighting units.
Negotiators cut $3 billion from Bush's base closing request, but may look to make up some of the shortfall in the $100 billion-plus Iraq funding bill scheduled to advanced this spring.
Any spending package adopted by the House must eventually also make it through the Senate.
Domenici seemed the winner in a dispute over funding to build an Energy Department plant in South Carolina to convert excess plutonium into commercial nuclear fuel. The project's cost has swelled about fivefold from earlier estimates, but Domenici successfully pressed for a funding extension — though House lawmakers succeeded in delaying disbursement of funding until Aug. 1.
There are plenty of reasons for members of Congress to be unhappy, not the least of which is that thousands of pet projects for lawmakers' districts and states have been erased.
That's not to say all of the controversial projects are killed outright. Instead, powerful lawmakers who chair committees and populate the leadership rosters in both parties will shift their efforts to obtain earmarks to lobbying agency officials with letters and telephone calls.
For agencies and accounts targeted by Bush for outright cuts, a budget freeze is in fact a victory. Amtrak's federal subsidy would remain steady at $1.3 billion, about $100 million less than sought by the railroad's many advocates in the Senate. That's a lot better that the $900 million proposed by Bush or the $1.1 billion passed earlier by the House.
Insanity.
It is so massive that light cannot escape from it. It is a black hole.
Don't you just love how when Democrats freeze spending levels, it's called a freeze. When Republicans do it, it's called a cut.
You noticed that, too. Yep, it's now a freeze and not a cut. First thing that jumped out at me when i read the article, was going to go back and see who wrote it.
$260 for poor college students. WOW Get on your knees.
I don't disagree with college funding increases. The other details are going to be costly. These are democrats, they spend, it's what they do.
And this is balancing the budget demoncRAT style. ROTFLMAO!
Now is the time to slash the budget. 300 billion dollars would be a step in the right direction.
Republicans need lessons in playing poker.
Any money going to the military?
If this is really a freeze, there is merit in applauding and insisting on extending the freeze to those areas the Dems didn't freeze. A freeze is a 3% cut after inflation and that's a good thing.
You read it -
cuts in Constitutional spending,
increases in unconstitutional spending.
Replying to myself with a "however"
However, there is the issue of inflation based pay raises. The agencies have to pay for those. There is merit in making them do so with head count cuts, and maybe the head cut could be extra in non military agencies to ensure there is no force reduction in the military.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
"democrats unveil massive spending bill."
scu&bags in action.
Whatever happened to any organized right wing in the United States?.. They seemed to have all disappeared..
David Horowitz's website has got the goods on all that..
"But Democrats such as Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey (news, bio, voting record) of Wisconsin had little sympathy, saying Republicans wouldn't make tough budget choices before the election and didn't try to clean up the mess afterward in a lame duck session. "
Give the Rat credit for saying this because it's the truth. The Republican leadership was (is) gutless when it comes to making any sort of tough choice.
God I hate these people.
Why do I suspect if they all have a chance to add amendments the bill will end up being 700 billion?
In related news:
The sun rises in the East.
Water is wet.
The Detroit Lions suck.
bump
Why the heck are you blaming Republicans? (Other than the fact that you don't undertand how Congress works, that is.) In the House, the majority gets to make the rules and the minority can't do squat about it. At least in the Senate, they can filibuster. But in the
House the minority has zero power. However, squeezing any members out of debate and the ability to offer amendments seems unconstitutional to me.
That is true and probably the biggest reason why most people believed they didn't deserve to be leaders.
Happy to see you debating this with yourself since the Dems don't give a flying fig what you think.
V-E-T-O
$463 billion of the taxpayers' funds
$463,000,000,000.00 in this one alone?
Where did I blame Republicans? Now is the time for them to promote real spending cuts and let the Democrats shoot them down.
DEMS CUT SPENDING !!!
Good call.
On the House side, the Republicans can't propose anything, because they have been frozen out of the legislative process by the Dems. This is blatantly unconstitutional. I wish the Rep leadership would consider filing a lawsuit. However, I also realize the courts are reluctant to get involved in the process matters of the Congress.
They should publish what their plan would have been. Let the people see what the democrat party denied them.
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