International Herald Tribune Editorial - Budget battle lines
International Herald Tribune Editorial - Budget battle lines
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: May 27, 2007
The federal budget for 2008, agreed to last week by the House and Senate, puts Congress in good shape to move forward responsibly on many of the nation's pressing needs. But the Bush administration seems determined to stand in the way.
The next step in the process is for Congress to pass 13 spending bills to allocate nearly $960 billion from the budget. The bills will fund activities that affect every American, including defense, diplomacy, education, environmental protection, food safety, homeland security, housing, infrastructure repair, local law enforcement, scientific research, transportation and veteran's health care.
But no sooner did Congress announce a budget agreement then the White House threatened to veto spending that exceeds levels suggested by President George W. Bush last February. Bush only wants to increase funding for the Pentagon - he requested $40 billion more than was granted this year. From everything else, he wants lawmakers to find a total of about $10 billion in cuts from this year's budget. Bush hasn't dictated what lawmakers must ax, but he has suggested cuts in education funding, which includes college aid and money for local school districts; in transportation, including money for mass transit; and in aid to cities.
Similar cuts proposed by Bush last year were considered so ill-advised that even the then-Republican majority could not muster enough votes to pass them.
In threatening to veto, the White House has tried to portray itself as fiscally prudent and Congress as spendthrift. The real difference is between an administration willing to starve basic government services - in favor of tax cuts and financing a disastrous war - and a Congress that is trying, within means, to run a responsive government.
In Congress's budget, lawmakers have agreed to give Bush every penny he requested for defense. And they have budgeted a relatively modest increase in nondefense spending of $13.5 billion over this year's level - a 3.1 percent increase, after inflation. That's about one-tenth of the annual cost of the Iraq war or one-eighteenth of this year's cost for the Bush tax cuts. Even with that spending increase, nondefense appropriations would be lower in 2008, as a share of the economy, than in every year from 2001 through 2006.
Heeding the needs or the will of ordinary Americans has never been Bush's strong suit. On the 2008 budget, he should stop posturing and start working with lawmakers, for the good of his own legacy and for all the people who need the government's services and protections.
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: May 27, 2007
The federal budget for 2008, agreed to last week by the House and Senate, puts Congress in good shape to move forward responsibly on many of the nation's pressing needs. But the Bush administration seems determined to stand in the way.
The next step in the process is for Congress to pass 13 spending bills to allocate nearly $960 billion from the budget. The bills will fund activities that affect every American, including defense, diplomacy, education, environmental protection, food safety, homeland security, housing, infrastructure repair, local law enforcement, scientific research, transportation and veteran's health care.
But no sooner did Congress announce a budget agreement then the White House threatened to veto spending that exceeds levels suggested by President George W. Bush last February. Bush only wants to increase funding for the Pentagon - he requested $40 billion more than was granted this year. From everything else, he wants lawmakers to find a total of about $10 billion in cuts from this year's budget. Bush hasn't dictated what lawmakers must ax, but he has suggested cuts in education funding, which includes college aid and money for local school districts; in transportation, including money for mass transit; and in aid to cities.
Similar cuts proposed by Bush last year were considered so ill-advised that even the then-Republican majority could not muster enough votes to pass them.
In threatening to veto, the White House has tried to portray itself as fiscally prudent and Congress as spendthrift. The real difference is between an administration willing to starve basic government services - in favor of tax cuts and financing a disastrous war - and a Congress that is trying, within means, to run a responsive government.
In Congress's budget, lawmakers have agreed to give Bush every penny he requested for defense. And they have budgeted a relatively modest increase in nondefense spending of $13.5 billion over this year's level - a 3.1 percent increase, after inflation. That's about one-tenth of the annual cost of the Iraq war or one-eighteenth of this year's cost for the Bush tax cuts. Even with that spending increase, nondefense appropriations would be lower in 2008, as a share of the economy, than in every year from 2001 through 2006.
Heeding the needs or the will of ordinary Americans has never been Bush's strong suit. On the 2008 budget, he should stop posturing and start working with lawmakers, for the good of his own legacy and for all the people who need the government's services and protections.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 8:21 AM
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