Ahhhh...Gridlock.
A discussion of the wonders of gridlock, budget battles, 3000 page omnibus bills, slowed spending, earmarks, pork, veto threats and the tricks and gimmicks that congress comes up with to get extra spending thru...because it really wants to spend the money.
A fascinating few minutes that takes you into the wondrous world of appropriations.
One of these 3000+ omnibus bills is currently trying to muscle its way through congress with Bush pledging to veto the Dem version. Basically, Bush wants a budget like last year's plus inflation and the Dems want a bigger one. So, it's a 3.5% increase vs. a 9% increase. So, the Dems are stripped it down to avoid a veto. Nice. Ahhhh...Gridlock!
However, there's more than one way to spend extra money! So the Dems are trying passing some of this stripped spending as "off the budget/emergency funding"...it's a technical term :)...but this may cause yet ANOTHER veto. Funny, when the GOP Congress did this for years, the word "veto" was as rare as a unicorn.
Of course, an easy way around this veto is "a continuing budget" or "auto pilot" when no budget agreement is made. Such a bill is just the previous years official appropriation adjusted for inflation. If we come to this (cross your fingers), it will be two years in a row of of no real increases.
Ahhh...Gridlock! The evil of partisan nonsense being used for good.
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Comments :
heh
that's what I like to hear :) Republicans do function better as the opposition party. Bunch of irresponsible fools! It's not too much to ask for a little consistency.
This is how it generally works when spending is down - because GOP blocked it. The usual pattern is that Dems will later on (and years after) claim that they were the ones who were fiscally responsible :) Just like with Clinton. Republicans held him back and into surpluses but Dems lie that it was all their accomplishment. Without someone holding them back, they would spend like bandits and it's on display here in all its glory.
"To discuss evil in a manner implying neutrality, is to sanction it." AR
LMAO
As an example of the fiscal responsibility one might point to the 70 billion appropriation for the occupation in Iraq. That's not even a pork barrel, that's more like a pork vat. And that's just a small part of the humongous debt this Republican administration fiscally responsibilitated the US into. Bon apetit.
Sic semper tyrannis
echo
n/t
Sic semper tyrannis