...I'm okay with being REALITY-based.




Tuesday, January 20, 2004
      ( 4:46 PM )
 
Holding off the Barbarian Hordes

The Dems in the Senate (along with a few stalwart Republicans) held off passing the massive spending bill that the White House has been forcing through Congress since last month. The House passed it in December, but Senate Dems are trying with their last breath to at least delay it. Most think it will pass anyway because they don't have the power to force new votes to change it. This spending bill is far and away the hugest piece of pork this administration has attempted (the energy bill hasn't been put up for vote yet, though). At least it was delayed today so Bush can't flaunt it in his speech tonight. CNN's report on it lists several of the controversian parts of the spending package:

- Language to delay country-of-origin labeling on
meat -- an issue that gained attention after mad cow
disease was recently discovered in the United States.

- New overtime pay provisions that critics charge will
strip millions of white-collar workers of extra money
for their overtime hours.

- Language to let new Federal Communications Commission
rules go into effect that allow media companies to
increase the number of television stations they own
despite broad congressional opposition to the policy.

Some senators, including Republicans, don't like the
thousands of home-state earmarks in the bill. Republican
Sen. John McCain of Arizona called the bill a "disgrace"
and an "outrage to the American people."

Americans who think this President has done us good with his tax cuts and the "jobless growth" in the economy are complete idiots. I'm sorry, but it's true. This administration has forced more reckless spending through than we've seen since Reagan. I don't know how Republicans can keep up the meme that Democrats are the ones who spend more and create bigger government, when it's been Republicans doing this very thing in the last half century. It's ridiculous. The last bit of the article tells all:

Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska, who chairs
the Senate Appropriations Committee, said the bill
must be dispensed with quickly so lawmakers can
start writing spending bills for next year.

These people must be stopped.

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