by Mark Silva
The year may be ending with a budget-bang, as Congress gears up to approve a long-awaited spending bill that President Bush has long promised to veto in the form that it is taking.
The White House is calling it one big budget-buster.
Jim Nussle, the president's budget director, issued a warning today that Bush will veto the "omnibus'' spending bill that Congress is serving up -- because it exceeds by nearly $20 billion what the president has proposed for the programs amassed in this package.
This comes at a time when the White House still is pressing Congress to approve a separate, supplemental war-spending bill for Iraq and Afghanistan-- which will not likely be approved before the end of the year in its own right. Instead, Democratic leaders are wrapping temporary war funding into a bigger take-it-or-leave-it budget for the president.
"According to news reports today, House and Senate Democratic leaders are nearing agreement among themselves on a mammoth omnibus spending bill, two-and-a-half months after the end of the last fiscal year,'' Jim Nussle, director of the Office of Management and Budget said today.
"Although the administration has not seen the legislation, according to press reports it would include 18 billion in additional domestic and emergency spending above the president’s budget,'' Nussle said in a statement issued by the White House. "When added to emergency domestic spending Congress already included in the Defense Appropriations bill, this so-called compromise would result in more excess spending than even the Democrats’ original budget included.
"This is not fiscally responsible,'' Nussle said. "Our economic growth and job creation cannot be taken for granted, and Congress should not burden taxpayers with billions of dollars in additional wasteful spending.
"Press reports also suggest that the Democrats in Congress believe this excessive spending is the price for providing a fraction of the funding requested for our troops in the field. Instead of trying to leverage troop-funding for more pork-barrel spending, Congress ought to pass responsible appropriations bills and the funding for the troops our commanders say they need to build on their battlefield successes.
"If presented a bill like the one described in today’s press reports, the president would veto it,'' Nussle said. "If Congress insists on sending the p[resident a budget-busting bill they know he will veto and that will not become law, they should also pass a continuing resolution that keeps the government running and provides the troops in the field the funds they need without disrupting the operations of the Department of Defense and the lives of hundreds of thousands of its employees and men and women in uniform.''
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Comments
I'm glad President Bush is going to veto the tax and spend liberal Democrats spending maze. Tax and spend and obfuscate the President's programs that's how they do or I should say don't do their jobs. Jerry White, Springfield, IL Go W!
Posted by: Jerry White | December 8, 2007 3:05 PM
How much lower can the democRATs go?
Let the Bush-boom continue with low interest rates,low unemployment and the sixth straight year of growth!
Let the dems keep making fools of themselves as they try, but can't, tax and spend us unto a recession.
Paulo
Posted by: Paulo | December 8, 2007 4:56 PM
And the democrats took over Congress on a theme of fiscal responsibility - what a joke. The public should make them pay in 2008 and if the GOP screws up again in 2009-10, then they should pay in 2010.
Posted by: Terry | December 8, 2007 5:17 PM
I'm glad President Bush is going to veto the tax and spend liberal Democrats spending maze. Tax and spend and obfuscate the President's programs that's how they do or I should say don't do their jobs. Jerry White, Springfield, IL Go W!
Posted by: Jerry White | December 8, 2007 3:05 PM
How much lower can the democRATs go?
Let the Bush-boom continue with low interest rates,low unemployment and the sixth straight year of growth!
Let the dems keep making fools of themselves as they try, but can't, tax and spend us unto a recession.
Paulo
Posted by: Paulo | December 8, 2007 4:56 PM
And the democrats took over Congress on a theme of fiscal responsibility - what a joke. The public should make them pay in 2008 and if the GOP screws up again in 2009-10, then they should pay in 2010.
Posted by: Terry | December 8, 2007 5:17 PM
___________________________
WE ARE ROBOTS. WE PARROT REPUBLICAN TALKING POINTS. WE ARE IN CAPABLE OF INDEPENDENT THOUGHT. WE EXIST TO ATTACK ALL IDEAS. WE HAVE NO PURPOSE IN LIFE BUT TO ATTACK PEOPLE. GLORY IN LIFE COMES FROM ATTACKING PEOPLE. ATTACK. ATTACK. ATTACK.
___________________________
yawn.
Posted by: rncbs | December 8, 2007 5:32 PM
Wasn't ome of San Fran Nan's big promises to stop pork addition to each bill? Hmmmmmmmmm????
There hasn't been one since she took over that was clean....
___________________________
Yawn....right back atcha
Posted by: Fred | December 8, 2007 6:04 PM
Seven years and five trillion more in debt,and now you losers are fiscal conservatives?
Posted by: Raving Loon | December 8, 2007 7:27 PM
"Let the Bush-boom continue..."
Paulo
Posted by: Paulo | December 8, 2007 4:56 PM
Yes, let the Bush boom continue. Four thousand + more American servicemen and women dead in Iraq while Jerry Whitebread, Paulo the Brazilian Cheerleader, Fred, John D, and Bruce continue blindly down GW's path.
Posted by: Rick/Sneads Ferry, NC | December 8, 2007 8:02 PM
Iraq is one very long-term budget buster. Veto Bush.
Posted by: Vivian | December 8, 2007 8:11 PM
mcBS,
I never do part of the GOP talking points called for them to loose power. Show me the link.
Posted by: Terry | December 8, 2007 9:03 PM
Rick/Sneads Ufairy N.C.
Sorry you didn't like the great 'factual' news about the Bush-boom strong and still growing economy.
Bush's up-coming veto and the great economy seems like it angers you. But,you are what you are....a depressing lib.
Oh, and God-Bless our Soldiers!
Paulo
Posted by: Paulo | December 8, 2007 11:42 PM
The "Bush economy" is great if you are in the top .01%. If not, not so much!
It sure looks great when you're staring at foreclosure in this credit collapse (a direct result of letting the market do its thing) or staring at a huge medical bill, because your employer (if you have one) has dropped medical coverage from the benefits package.
If you earn wages, chances are the Bush economy has done nothing NOTHING for you. If you clip coupons, sure.
Oh, and please bring the troops home! That would be a true "blessing."
Posted by: athena | December 9, 2007 9:49 AM
WE ARE ROBOTS. WE PARROT REPUBLICAN TALKING POINTS. WE ARE IN CAPABLE OF INDEPENDENT THOUGHT. WE EXIST TO ATTACK ALL IDEAS. WE HAVE NO PURPOSE IN LIFE BUT TO ATTACK PEOPLE. GLORY IN LIFE COMES FROM ATTACKING PEOPLE. ATTACK. ATTACK. ATTACK.
Posted by: Bush/Cheney/Impeach/Imprison | December 9, 2007 10:43 AM
Hey Paulo, I got your "Bush Boom" right here:
[quote]
Like a ticking time bomb, the national debt is an explosion waiting to happen. It's expanding by about $1.4 billion a day -- or nearly $1 million a minute.
What's that mean to you?
It means almost $30,000 in debt for each man, woman, child and infant in the United States.
[...]
The national debt -- the total accumulation of annual budget deficits -- is up from $5.7 trillion when President Bush took office in January 2001 and it will top $10 trillion sometime right before or right after he leaves in January 2009.
[/quote]
source: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Nation-in-Debt.html
Running the present on IOUs that will be given to your grandchildren - THAT'S the Republic Party way!
Posted by: BC | December 9, 2007 1:31 PM
"Oh, and God-Bless our Soldiers!"
Paulo
Posted by: Paulo | December 8, 2007 11:42 PM
Oh, just another after-thought by Paula. So Republican.
Posted by: Rick/Sneads Ferry, NC | December 9, 2007 3:31 PM
$20 billion in a large omnibus bill is barely a rounding error. Anyone who would call this "fiscal discipline" as opposed to the usual political gamesmanship is blinded by ideology. $20 billion represents a tiny fraction of the interest we will continue to pay on the debt incurred under the Reagan and Bush Administrations.
Further, to on one hand demand that $20 billion be cut from an omnibus bill while at the same time insisting on $200 billion for the largest corporate welfare project of all time- Iraq War II, is disingenuous at the bare minimum and displays "chutzpah" to the utmost extreme.
Posted by: Jones | December 9, 2007 7:26 PM
Paulo,
When's your leave up?
You'll be heading back to Iraq - when?
Your tour of duty was when?
Goof.
Posted by: Doug Zook | December 9, 2007 8:18 PM
Paulo,
I keep forgetting about your military experience.
You've made it clear your a tough guy.
So what is it?
Chairborne commando?
101st paper cut?
QWERTY in Chief?
You're pathetic.
Posted by: Doug Zook | December 9, 2007 8:40 PM