Posted on 11/06/2007 6:32:09 PM PST by SmithL
WASHINGTON, (AP) -- Congressional Democrats stumbled ahead Tuesday with a plan lumping the popular budget for veterans programs with a health and education bill that President Bush has promised to veto.
House Democratic leaders slated a vote on the House-Senate compromise bill for Tuesday night in an apparent attempt to use the politically untouchable veterans budget to increase the vote tally for the health and education funding bill, a top Democratic priority that fell just short of a veto-proof margin this summer.
But if anything, the power play solidified GOP opposition to the bill. And the plan was certain to unravel in the Senate, where Republicans were poised to use the rules to cleave the measure in two, setting the health and education bill on course to be vetoed by Bush without the veterans' money attached.
At the same time, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., acknowledged that Congress would not pass the Veterans Affairs budget into law before Monday's Veterans Day holiday as demanded by Republicans.
The White House weighed in Tuesday afternoon, restating its promise to veto the labor and education bill, which contains $151 billion in discretionary spending, the portion of the budget passed each year by Congress. That's almost $10 billion more than sought.
"Funding for the nation's veterans should not be held hostage while Congress attempts to add billions in unrelated spending," said the White House veto statement.
The health, education and job training measure is the largest domestic appropriations bill. It contains long-sought increases to programs dear to Democrats and moderate Republicans: school aid under the No Child Left Behind law, special education, drug treatment, heating subsidies for the poor, health research and funding for community health centers and medical education.
"It's about what we stand for," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
"It's about what we stand for," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
Using veterans for political gain.
There’s definitely something wrong when the party that has just gotten a clear majority in both houses can do nothing but play games and make gestures. Pelosi and Reid are just about the stupidest leaders of their respective chambers that I have ever seen.
I’m not talking about their obnoxious ideologies now, but their political incompetence.
It’s really a break for us.
This assumes that Republicans are too dumb to know what the Democrats are doing. Well, on second thought maybe ...
I’ll bttt to that :^
She doesnt stand for the veterans.....
None of em’ do Nana...
i’m currently undergoing treatment at the va hospital here for diabetes,coronary artery disease,and a recurrence of cancer-in the last two weeks i underwent two surgeries,one an emergency procedure-i just got out of the hospital yesterday-as usual the treatment i received from everyone-doctors,nurses and other employees was better than what one could hope for-i hope that crass politicians of either party will leave our health resources alone and not use them as trading chips-there are too many making our laws who never thought to serve a day in their lives-what i found out recently is that some of the senior attending physicians at the hospital i go to are semi-retired and working there for practically nothing to help veterans-and these are some of the best in their field in this area-too bad people like that aren’t making the laws-one of my surgeons was a young lady about my daughter’s age who visited me at all odd hours in between “rounds”just to see if i was doing okay-she didn’t have to do that -she dsefinitely is in the right profession-do you really HAVE to get sick to meet nice dedicated people?
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