Federal Budget Deal Negotiations Collapse

The game of “pass the federal budget” has gone into overtime again, and the latest efforts to fund Uncle Sam for another year have collapsed in acrimony and charges of “bad faith.” On Saturday, President Bush vowed to veto any bill that exceeded his spending requests. A compromise bill in the House Appropriations Committee topped that figure by $18 billion. Now, Chairman David Obey (D-WI) has decided to rip up the agreement, pass a budget and meet the president’s budget cap by axing projects in Republican districts.

As this journal has noted before, the president has come to fiscal responsibility late in his second term. Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV) said it perfectly, “It is extraordinary that the president would request an 11 percent increase for the Department of Defense, a 12% increase for foreign aid, and $195 billion of emergency funding for the war, while asserting that a 4.7% for domestic programs is fiscally irresponsible.”

Naturally, not getting their pet projects funded has got some Republican politicos worried. James T. Walsh (R-NY), wisely noted, “If the [next] proposal is to split the difference, to reduce the amount of spending above the president's request by $11 billion, I would advise the president to take yes for an answer.” Another is Congressman Ray LaHood (R-IL), who may lose $400,000 to celebrate Abe Lincoln’s birthday, “There are a lot of people who were very disappointed last year when nobody got any earmarks. If they do it again for the second year in a row, it will be a very bitter pill to swallow.”

Naturally, there is a political game being played here that has nothing to do with the budget. The Republican Party has adopted a strategy of obstructionism so that they can campaign in 2008 against a “do nothing” Congress. Given they have bankrupted the nation, sabotaged American civil liberties and lost two wars along with New Orleans, that’s probably the best plan they can follow.

It does carry a cost, though. Congressman LaHood also said, “The strategy is to lay low and then blame them for not getting anything done. The truth is, we all lose. We trash each other and end up making the institution look bad. That’s why Congress’ approval ratings are so low.” The trouble is that there are few in Congress these day who love the institution more than their own seat in it.

© Copyright 2007 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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