I hope all those families scraping together money along with all the people making donations to buy protective gear for their loved ones read this article very closely.
And disturbing attempts to sneak through legislation in a bill that's the size of several phone books doesn't engender confidence in the future for the new Republican majority either.
Congress passes spending measure
Provisions on abortion, tax returns delay action
By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press
11/21/2004
WASHINGTON - Republicans whisked a $388 billion spending bill through Congress on Saturday, a mammoth measure that underscores the dominance of deficit politics by cutting dollars for everything from education to environmental cleanups.
The House approved the measure by a bipartisan vote of 344-51, while the Senate vote was 65-30.
Senate approval took longer because of disputes over provisions dealing with abortions and access by members of Congress to income tax returns.
Leaders agreed to put off sending the spending package to President Bush for his signature until next week, when they expect the tax returns issue to be resolved in a separate bill.
From its tight domestic spending to the Democratic-backed provisions on overtime and other issues that were dropped, the bill is a monument to the GOP's raw power controlling the White House and Congress.
It was an imposing monument, too: The bill and explanatory report measured about 14 inches thick, leaving many lawmakers baffled about its precise contents.
"I'm very proud of the fact that we held the line and made Congress make choices and set priorities, because it follows our philosophy," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.
Even Bush's programs were not immune to cuts as the bill's GOP authors heeded his demands to control spending.
His request for development of new nuclear weapons was rejected; his budget for the AmeriCorps volunteer program was sliced by 12 percent; and the $2.5 billion he wanted to aid countries adopting democratic practices was slashed by $1 billion.
Also enacted last week was an $800 billion increase in the government's borrowing limit. The measure was yet another testament to the record annual deficits, which reached $413 billion last year and are expected to climb indefinitely.
While the spending bill was one of the most austere in years, it had something for virtually every lawmaker, including mountains of home-district projects. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a bipartisan group favoring less federal spending, said it found 11,772 projects worth $15.8 billion.
The projects included:
$335,000 to protect sunflowers in North Dakota from blackbird damage.
$60 million for a new courthouse in Las Cruces, N.M.
$225,000 to study catfish genomes at Alabama's Auburn University.
$2 million for the government to try buying back the former presidential yacht Sequoia, which was sold three decades ago. Its current owners say the yacht is assessed at $9.8 million.
Despite complaints the bill was too stingy, most Democrats supported it. They helped write it and included many projects for themselves. They knew that the alternative - holding spending to last year's levels - would be $4 billion tighter.
Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., said the bill "falls so far from meeting our investment obligations for the future that it could only be brought to the floor by the majority party after the election."
The measure combined nine bills that Republicans found too contentious to complete before the Nov. 2 elections. The legislation covers almost every domestic agency and department, plus foreign aid.
The FBI, the Securities and Exchange Commission and National Aeronautics and Space Administration got healthy increases. But education grew by less than 2 percent, and the Environmental Protection Agency grew by 3.5 percent.
Overall, the nine bills the measure combined were just 2 percent larger than last year's versions. When foreign aid and defense spending are omitted, the remaining domestic programs grew by about 1 percent.
To stay within the spending limits Bush demanded, all programs in the bill eventually will be cut by at least 0.8 percent.
One of the last measures to pass Congress this year, the spending bill bore fruit for many industries while leaving other interests short.
An additional for 20,000 visas will be available for skilled foreign workers for high technology businesses. Satellite television companies will be able to feed digital network programming to rural viewers.
Two labor-led efforts failed to make the cut. One would have blocked Bush administration rules limiting overtime pay. The second would have prevented the Internal Revenue Service from using private debt collectors to collect overdue taxes.
Efforts to extend some federal milk subsidies and repeal country-of-origin labels for many foods also failed.
But the bill included new rules governing the recreational use of federal lands and federal small business programs.
A bridge near the Hoover Dam between Arizona and Nevada was named for Pat Tillman, the professional football player killed while serving in the Army in Afghanistan.
Congress is supposed to complete 13 spending bills financing federal agencies by the Oct. 1 start of each fiscal year. Four of those bills financing the military, homeland security and the District of Columbia were enacted earlier this year, while the remaining nine bills were combined and finally approved Saturday.
To give White House officials time to review the omnibus bill, Congress approved a measure temporarily financing the agencies covered by the bill through Dec. 3.
The last short-term spending measure expired at midnight Saturday. White House aides said that to avoid a weekend disruption in government services, the just-passed temporary measure was flown overnight to Bush in Chile where he is attending a summit so he could quickly sign it.
Resolving one last-minute fight, Senate GOP leaders agreed to give abortion-rights supporters a chance by spring to repeal language in the bill making it easier for health-care providers to decline to provide abortions or offer counseling and referrals.
They also agreed to have the House vote Wednesday to kill a provision letting top members of the House and Senate Appropriations committees send people to examine income tax returns, without any penalties if they publicly disclose them. The Senate approved legislation repealing that section Saturday evening.
And disturbing attempts to sneak through legislation in a bill that's the size of several phone books doesn't engender confidence in the future for the new Republican majority either.
Congress passes spending measure
Provisions on abortion, tax returns delay action
By ALAN FRAM
Associated Press
11/21/2004
WASHINGTON - Republicans whisked a $388 billion spending bill through Congress on Saturday, a mammoth measure that underscores the dominance of deficit politics by cutting dollars for everything from education to environmental cleanups.
The House approved the measure by a bipartisan vote of 344-51, while the Senate vote was 65-30.
Senate approval took longer because of disputes over provisions dealing with abortions and access by members of Congress to income tax returns.
Leaders agreed to put off sending the spending package to President Bush for his signature until next week, when they expect the tax returns issue to be resolved in a separate bill.
From its tight domestic spending to the Democratic-backed provisions on overtime and other issues that were dropped, the bill is a monument to the GOP's raw power controlling the White House and Congress.
It was an imposing monument, too: The bill and explanatory report measured about 14 inches thick, leaving many lawmakers baffled about its precise contents.
"I'm very proud of the fact that we held the line and made Congress make choices and set priorities, because it follows our philosophy," said House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas.
Even Bush's programs were not immune to cuts as the bill's GOP authors heeded his demands to control spending.
His request for development of new nuclear weapons was rejected; his budget for the AmeriCorps volunteer program was sliced by 12 percent; and the $2.5 billion he wanted to aid countries adopting democratic practices was slashed by $1 billion.
Also enacted last week was an $800 billion increase in the government's borrowing limit. The measure was yet another testament to the record annual deficits, which reached $413 billion last year and are expected to climb indefinitely.
While the spending bill was one of the most austere in years, it had something for virtually every lawmaker, including mountains of home-district projects. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a bipartisan group favoring less federal spending, said it found 11,772 projects worth $15.8 billion.
The projects included:
$335,000 to protect sunflowers in North Dakota from blackbird damage.
$60 million for a new courthouse in Las Cruces, N.M.
$225,000 to study catfish genomes at Alabama's Auburn University.
$2 million for the government to try buying back the former presidential yacht Sequoia, which was sold three decades ago. Its current owners say the yacht is assessed at $9.8 million.
Despite complaints the bill was too stingy, most Democrats supported it. They helped write it and included many projects for themselves. They knew that the alternative - holding spending to last year's levels - would be $4 billion tighter.
Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., said the bill "falls so far from meeting our investment obligations for the future that it could only be brought to the floor by the majority party after the election."
The measure combined nine bills that Republicans found too contentious to complete before the Nov. 2 elections. The legislation covers almost every domestic agency and department, plus foreign aid.
The FBI, the Securities and Exchange Commission and National Aeronautics and Space Administration got healthy increases. But education grew by less than 2 percent, and the Environmental Protection Agency grew by 3.5 percent.
Overall, the nine bills the measure combined were just 2 percent larger than last year's versions. When foreign aid and defense spending are omitted, the remaining domestic programs grew by about 1 percent.
To stay within the spending limits Bush demanded, all programs in the bill eventually will be cut by at least 0.8 percent.
One of the last measures to pass Congress this year, the spending bill bore fruit for many industries while leaving other interests short.
An additional for 20,000 visas will be available for skilled foreign workers for high technology businesses. Satellite television companies will be able to feed digital network programming to rural viewers.
Two labor-led efforts failed to make the cut. One would have blocked Bush administration rules limiting overtime pay. The second would have prevented the Internal Revenue Service from using private debt collectors to collect overdue taxes.
Efforts to extend some federal milk subsidies and repeal country-of-origin labels for many foods also failed.
But the bill included new rules governing the recreational use of federal lands and federal small business programs.
A bridge near the Hoover Dam between Arizona and Nevada was named for Pat Tillman, the professional football player killed while serving in the Army in Afghanistan.
Congress is supposed to complete 13 spending bills financing federal agencies by the Oct. 1 start of each fiscal year. Four of those bills financing the military, homeland security and the District of Columbia were enacted earlier this year, while the remaining nine bills were combined and finally approved Saturday.
To give White House officials time to review the omnibus bill, Congress approved a measure temporarily financing the agencies covered by the bill through Dec. 3.
The last short-term spending measure expired at midnight Saturday. White House aides said that to avoid a weekend disruption in government services, the just-passed temporary measure was flown overnight to Bush in Chile where he is attending a summit so he could quickly sign it.
Resolving one last-minute fight, Senate GOP leaders agreed to give abortion-rights supporters a chance by spring to repeal language in the bill making it easier for health-care providers to decline to provide abortions or offer counseling and referrals.
They also agreed to have the House vote Wednesday to kill a provision letting top members of the House and Senate Appropriations committees send people to examine income tax returns, without any penalties if they publicly disclose them. The Senate approved legislation repealing that section Saturday evening.
