Washington's $782 Billion Spending Spree

Capitalism Magazine ^ | Novemebr 29, 2002 | Brian Riedl

[Uncle Bill]

21 hits for $782 Billion in Spending. LOL! Hooyah!

[Uncle Bill]

Bump!

[Uncle Bill]

The Republicans stood firm. LOL! Standing where no noodle has stood before.

$390 Billion Bill Carries Senators' Hometown Projects

The Associated Press
By Alan Fram, Associated Press Writer
January 17, 2003
Source

WASHINGTON (AP) - Republicans stood firm Friday and shot down Democratic attempts to boost the price tag of a mammoth $390 billion spending bill already loaded with hundreds of home-state projects for senators from both parties.

The bill - financing every federal agency but the Pentagon - includes $100,000 for a facial recognition system for police in Ogden, Utah, represented by GOP Sen. Robert Bennett; $300,000 to help control grasshoppers and Mormon crickets in Nevada, home state of Democratic Sen. Harry Reid; and $200,000 for a people mover in Anchorage, Alaska, home state of the bill's chief author, GOP Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Ted Stevens.

The precise magnitude of the projects - called earmarks, or pork by critics - was unclear. But in one section alone, there were more than 300 community development projects, mostly with price tags below $1 million. Another had 100 earmarks in grants for local police agencies, while another listed several hundred water and flood control projects.

The White House sent lawmakers a letter urging passage of the legislation, but threatening to veto a final House-Senate version if it lacks abortion restrictions that President Bush favors.

The bill omits a ban - now in current law - against giving U.S. funds to international family agencies that use their own money for abortion counseling overseas, a Republican aide said. The Senate has long had a more moderate stance on abortion than the House.

No one expects the Republican-led Congress to engage a GOP president in a veto fight over abortion. But the letter - written days before the 30th anniversary of the Roe vs Wade Supreme Court decision that ruled abortion to be legal - underlined Bush's stance on the issue and emphasized that the matter will have to be settled to his liking in the final package.

The bill also has $75,000 to help redevelop a former Schmidt's Brewery site in Philadelphia, represented by Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa. The historic Tuttle Building in Rutland, Vt. - home state of Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy - would get $300,000 to build affordable housing. And in Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein's home state of California, the Los Angeles Theater Group in Culver City would receive $250,000 for building renovations.

One lawmaker - Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. - issued a press release claiming nearly $250 million worth of transportation projects alone for her state.

In an angry exchange on the Senate floor, Stevens said the projects totaled more than 2 percent of the bill. That would work out to more than $7.8 billion.

"Take the members' accounts out of this bill, there'd be no across-the-board cuts," he said.

His remarks were directed at Democrats who tried unsuccessfully to rescind a 2.9 percent cut Republicans had made in every program in the huge bill to make room for extra funds for farmers, education and modernizing election systems. That cut freed up $11 billion.

Many lawmakers say earmarks are part of the job of representing their states' needs.

"We can defend these add-ons," said Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia, the Appropriations panel's top Democrat.

But critics say such projects are unfair, arguing that they tend to go to members of Congress' Appropriations committees and others with clout without regard to overall national need.

"It's feeding frenzy time here on the banks of the Potomac," said Tom Schatz, president of the conservative Citizens Against Government Waste.

The Senate debated the bill for a third day on Friday as GOP leaders abandoned hopes of finishing it until at least next week. The measure combines 11 spending bills that were supposed to be finished by Oct. 1, when the current federal budget year began, and that cover every federal agency but the Pentagon.

Congress and President Bush enacted two other measures financing the military last October.

Following Bush's lead, Republicans continued battling to hold the bill's price tag down.

With all 50 GOP senators holding firm, the Senate voted 52-46 to reject the Democratic effort to block the across-the-board cuts.

In another 52-46 roll call, they killed a bid by Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, to add $500 million to the measure for grants for local police agencies. Stevens, though, said he planned to add money for the program when House-Senate bargainers meet in coming weeks to craft a final compromise package.

In another vote Friday, the Senate by 62-33 decided to keep language in the bill allowing the Norwegian Cruise Lines to be the only foreign-owned company to provide cruise service to Hawaii. Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., tried unsuccessfully to kill the language.

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THE PIG BOOK
"President Bush has earned a reputation as a compassionate conservative who shapes policy based on the principles of limited government."

[Uncle Bill]

Bttt

[TLBSHOW]

ping

I think you have plenty to read now. And please don't call someone names before checking the facts. I am no idiot. Best read up about this liberal shame that people at freerepublic should not support.

[Uncle Bill]

GOP Cheers Senate Socialist Spending Bill Approval - $390 billion
"And the measure has less than Bush wants for several programs, including disaster relief and Pell grants for low-income college students."

[Uncle Bill]

Bush Releases $200M in Heating Aid

Come on, be compassionate, help pay for others' heating bill. Besides, it's right there in the Constitution.

[Uncle Bill]

Bush Finalizing Proposal On Prescription Drugs - January 24, 2003

[Askel5]

Did you see that someone at the Justice Department decided in favor of $500,000 to the lesbian partner of one of the victims?

From now on, I'm having sex and exchanging rings with all my roommates ... just in case I need a little help paying for the rent if Fate steps in.

You think this about wraps it up or will the Bush Administration find the WTC tragedy yet useful for milking even more unconstitutional and willfully anti-Christian precedents to foist upon the Land of the Free?

[Uncle Bill]

LOL! Sigh......

9/11 Fund Awards Lesbian Partner

I'm sure there will be much more. For example, America must have a huge trillion dollar prescription drug program to bolster national security and protect citizens from the threat of terrorism. Smallpox vaccinations are free if you bring in a pre-bankrupt K-mart club card and a used Osama bin Laden dead or alive poster.

Potential terrorists on ski slopes

[Uncle Bill]

Money for everyone! What a country! What a country!

Bush Budget Plan to Aid Libraries, Museums

Associated Press
WPVI.com(ABC News)
January 24, 2003
Source

(White House-AP) — President Bush is hoping that a federal budget hike will speak volumes for libraries and museums.

The spending request he'll present to Congress next month includes 242 million dollars for the Institute of Museum and Library Services in 2004. The institute gives federal money to libraries and museums.

Bush requested 211 million dollars for the same purpose in the 2003 budget year, but Congress hasn't approved it yet.

The president's new request was announced yesterday by first lady Laura Bush, who's a former librarian. Mrs. Bush has made books and reading her special cause.

FBI given broad authority to monitor churches, libraries, Internet, political parties

[Uncle Bill]

Highlights of the Spending Bill

Covers every government agency except the Pentagon for the federal budget year that began on Oct. 1. Congress and President Bush completed the military budget last fall.

• $54 billion for the Education Department. $2 billion more than last year. $8.5 billion grants to states for special education, $1 billion over 2002, and $11 billion for low-income school districts, $1 billion more than 2002.

• $31.8 billion for highways

• $27 billion for the National Institutes of Health, almost $4 billion over 2002 and completing a five-year effort to double its budget.

• About $24 billion for various domestic security programs, including money for bioterrorism preparedness, airport explosive detectors and more FBI agents.

• $3.1 billion extra aid for farmers, including for many hurt by the recent drought.

• $2.3 billion for the National Park Service

• $1.6 billion for construction of water projects

• $280 million for the Peace Corps, about $30 million below Bush's request.

Budget expected to show record deficit - "Bush will release on Feb. 4 his budget proposal for 2004. Daniels said it would show a deficit of $300 billion or more. That would be the largest deficit in U.S. history, surpassing the $290 billion reached in Bush's father's administration in 1992."

[RLK]

You're joking, right?

----------------

No, he's brainless.

[Askel5]

Smallpox vaccinations are free if you bring in a pre-bankrupt K-mart club card and a used Osama bin Laden dead or alive poster.

Thanks, I needed that. =)

[Uncle Bill]

Big Brother Getting Bigger

President presides over burgeoning government, aggravated by concerns over security after 9/11

Houston Chronicle
By JULIE MASON
Houston Chronicle Washington Bureau
January 26, 2003
Source

WASHINGTON -- Addressing the delegates more than two years ago at the Republican National Convention, President Bush invoked a line that had become a sort of mantra.

"Big government is not the answer," he said.

Now, just past the midway point of his first term in office, Bush is presiding over the largest, most expensive -- and, some would say, most intrusive -- federal government in history.

While burgeoning big government cannot be blamed entirely on the Bush administration, polls have shown Americans becoming more critical of the job Bush is doing, particularly on economic issues. Within his own political party, once fiercely loyal conservatives are beginning to question the direction in which Bush is taking the country.

Tuesday, Bush will deliver a State of the Union address aimed at selling his economic policies and rallying the nation behind plans for war with Iraq while also touting new spending priorities for the coming fiscal year.

"This State of the Union will describe his vision of what role the United States should play in the world, how to bring help to the American people who need help and compassion, and how to strengthen the economy," said White House spokesman Ari Fleischer.

Shortly after the State of the Union, Bush is expected to submit to Congress a $2.1 trillion federal budget that holds the increase in discretionary spending to about 4 percent -- far short of last year's 14 percent increase and part of a deliberate White House strategy to hold the line on spending that's not tied to fixed programs such as Social Security.

But the administration's new austerity plan may be too little, too late, observers say. In the past five years, while median household income has grown by about 16 percent, the federal government's spending has increased by 45 percent.

The trend was under way when Bush took office. After a four-year period ending in 1997 that saw fairly stable spending management -- Congress' budget authority grew from $509 billion to $511 billion -- a spike began in 1998, when federal spending got an $18 billion boost to $529 billion. Spending in 2003 could top $750 billion.

So far, the administration has been able to deflect much of the criticism about the size and scope of the federal government by attributing much of the increase to the war on terror.

But budget analysts and some members of Congress increasingly are challenging that claim, noting that only about one-third of the recent budget increases can be traced directly to homeland security costs; the first-year homeland security price tag is $33 billion.

"I think everybody understands that in a family emergency, you spend what it takes to keep healthy and then when it's over, you get right back to your budget," said Rep. Kevin Brady, R-The Woodlands, a Bush ally. "But we have just been spending out of control and using the war as an excuse, and it needs to stop."

Bush in 2000 campaigned extensively on promises to scale back government -- a cornerstone value for the GOP -- while depicting his opponent, Democrat Al Gore, as a supporter of big government.

When Bush last year was forced to contend with a Democratic-controlled Senate, he frequently complained that government was too big, saying as recently as May 2002 that "America doesn't need more big government, and we've learned that more money is not always the answer."

Yet government has grown markedly under Bush, notably with creation of the new Homeland Security Department, the largest new federal bureaucracy since the creation of the Department of Defense in the 1940s.

With its new powers to monitor citizens and visitors, the homeland security effort also has drawn criticism from those who oppose government intrusion as well as government size -- most often, conservatives and civil libertarians.

"Americans should be concerned about continuing the tradition of limited government," said John Samples, director of the Center for Representative Government at the conservative Cato Institute.

"When government seems to be doing something good, such as when Americans felt insecure after 9/11, the extension of government powers can be seen as reassuring," Samples said. "But it is precisely at times like that, when it's most difficult, that people should be questioning whether we should be restricting constitutional liberties."

Since the 2001 terrorist attacks, Bush has enjoyed tremendous popular support, with approval ratings reaching 89 percent. More recently, his numbers have dipped to the mid-50s, attributable in large part to public doubt about Iraq and the economy.

Democratic strategist James Carville said that "perceptions are hardening" about Bush's presidency and are not likely to rebound without major improvements in the economy.

"His answer to everything is to give a tax cut to his campaign supporters," Carville said. "You can't go out to a black church and talk about faith-based initiatives and change that perception."

For more than a year, Bush has leveraged his durable popularity to dismiss that type of criticism as politically motivated attacks by ideological opponents.

But as public concern over terrorism gives way to concern over the economy, Bush is left to find ways to pay for a giant government bureaucracy erected in part to address a concern Americans don't rate as highly anymore.

While White House budget analysts are predicting the federal deficit will reach $300 billion in the next two years, Bush is asking Congress to pass a $674 billion tax cut package that Democrats are calling a windfall for the rich.

In the coming months, Bush also is expected to ask Congress to impose new limits on late-term abortion, abortion access for teens and human cloning -- all issues likely to spark more controversy than restore his public approval ratings, observers say.

Some of Bush's policies also pursue an agenda that is anathema to conservatives, such as new Department of Education policies mandating math and reading tests for students.

Much like big government, federal standards for education contradict a prized Republican value that federal officials should respect states' rights and not impose mandates from above.

"He has been controversial since day one and has paid no price for that -- even though the things he has pursued and policies he's advanced are inconsistent with the interests of a plurality of Americans," said Bruce Buchanan, a government professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

At the same time, Buchanan said, Bush has benefited from a public affection for strong leadership, particularly post-9/11, that has had an empowering effect on his presidency.

But tests are looming for Bush. Even Karl Rove, White House senior adviser, predicts the 2004 race for president will be close, despite the political luxury of having a solid GOP majority in Congress for the second half of Bush's term.

Brady, who is pushing a bill based on Texas' system of sunset rules and elimination of redundancy in government, said getting spending under control must be a priority for both parties.

"Washington forever has just been allergic to the word `no,' and we have to get over it," Brady said. "It's been way too long; we have to get back to a balanced budget."

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Socialism won the 2000 election

[Uncle Bill]

Republican Senate Fails Spending Test

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Bush Calls for $400 Billion in Medicare Spending

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Administration Proposes $3.9 Billion In 2004 Conservation Spending

Associated Press
By EMILY GERSEMA
January 30, 2003
Source

WASHINGTON (January 30, 11:00 a.m. PST) - President Bush is seeking to spend $3.9 billion of the Agriculture Department's money to protect the environment and conserve land for the budget year that begins Oct. 1, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman said Thursday.

Veneman said the money will support farm programs that protect wetlands, groundwater sources, wildlife habitats and conserve farmland.

"Farmers and ranchers are the best stewards of the land and we will ensure these programs are administered effectively and in the best interest of the environment," Veneman said.

The proposal would increase spending for the programs by 17 percent, or $582 million, over Bush's recommended spending levels for the 2003 budget year.

The conservation programs are mandated by the 2002 farm bill. The recommendation includes:

• $2 billion for the Conservation Reserve Program to cover conservation of new, old and rental acreage. That's $140 million more than the president sought in 2003.

• $850 million will be go to the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which encourages farmers to manage their farms in ways that help protect the environment. The proposal would be a $255 million increase over 2003.

• $250 million for the Wetlands Reserve Program to protect an additional 178,000 acres. Bush did not propose a 2003 spending level for this program because the amount of wetlands eligible for protection was capped under the farm bill. The program reached its limit of 1.07 million acres last year. The new limit is 2.27 million acres.

• $112 million for the Farmland Protection Program to ensure valuable farmland is kept in livestock and crop production. That would be a $27 million increase over the 2003 recommendation.

• $85 million for the Grassland Reserve Program, which is a $13 million increase over 2003.

• $42 million for the Wildlife Habitat Incentives Program, an increase of $16 million over 2003.

• $19 million for the new Conservation Security Program, another land protection initiative.

• $51 million for ground and surface water conservation; a $6 million increase over 2003.

• $8 million to save water and improve water quality at the Klamath Basin in Oregon and California.

In addition, the agency would spend $432 million on helping farmers apply and access money available in the conservation programs. That's an increase from the $333 million requested in 2003.

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President Bush signs Wetlands Act