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I was looking for a thread dedicated to the budget bill alone, OR I should say to be totally accurate the Omni-bus Bus budget bill, why is the distinction important? Well, you are about to find out as some side will do their level best to paint the other as obstructionists bent on upsetting everyones Christmas break apple cart, and not funding the gov. so it can just roll along like a big fat money/jelly doughnut leaking jelly ( pork ) and much higher spending caps all over the place because they wont play along.
The dems had 11 months with a supra majority, for those not paying attention that means filibuster proof.
As part of their responsibility , the house kicks off by crafting, with input from the pres. the next years budget before passing it onto the senate, historically this is completed and submitted by June of say 2010 for enactment Jan. 2011. The process starts around March .hummm..what was going on in March?
In any event here we are, the 12 stand alone allotment/funding bills that are discussed and funded individually have all been rolled up in this bill. Plus the Pork....
Oh and just to get past the usual, I hate doing this but for those of you who will run for the "Bush did it ", Ronco all-in one class A-D debate fire extinguisher .good luck with that. Youll have to go a lot further back than that to find a year where-in there was absolutely no budget bill even offered for a vote.
My issues? Aside from the bill itself, IF the rep.s provide anymore votes other than the Ps.O.S. retirees outlined in the article, I am done with them.
I will issue no passes to the reps. What happened to the no pork pledge? In short, screw them too I have no use for any one of them and we just got passed an election wherein the biggest broadest message was- stop bleeding money you bozos ..
The 111th Congress's Final Insult
Bluto Blutarsky must have been an Appropriator.
* DECEMBER 16, 2010
The 111th Congress began with an $814 billion stimulus that blew out the federal balance sheet, so we suppose it's only fitting that the Members want to exit by passing a 1,924-page, $1.2 trillion omnibus spending bill. The worst Congress in modern history is true to its essence to the bitter end.
Think of this as a political version of the final scene in "Animal House," when the boys from the Delta frat react to their expulsion by busting up the local town parade for the sheer mayhem of it. Bluto Blutarsky (John Belushi) did go on to be a U.S. Senator in the film, and a man of his vision must have earned a seat on Appropriations.
Democrats have had 11 months to write a budget for fiscal 2011, which began on October 1.
But Majority Leader Harry Reid and Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye have dumped this trillion-dollar baby on Senators at the very last minute, when everyone is busy and wants to go home for the holidays. No doubt that was the plan. The continuing resolution to fund the government expires on Saturday, so Mr. Reid wants to squeeze Senators against the deadline. And with the press corps preoccupied by the tax debate, the spending bill is greased to slide through with little or no public scrutiny.
Defenders argue that the bill is restrained because it freezes overall spending for federal agencies at 2010 levels. But 2010 was an inflated budget with a $1.3 trillion deficit. Paul Ryan, soon to be House Budget Chairman, notes that nondefense discretionary spending rose 24% over those two years. Add stimulus funding and federal agency spending soared to $796 billion in 2010 from $434 billion, an 84% spending increase. (See nearby table.) Republicans have promised to return to 2008 spending levels, and the omnibus will make that much harder.
Then there are the pork and policy riders, such as a food safety bill with new authority for the Food and Drug Administration. The bill's 6,630 earmarks will cost more than $8.1 billion, according to Citizens Against Government Waste. While that's fewer than in 2009, what happened to the earmark ban promised by Republicans and supported by President Obama?
snip-
The bill makes a special effort to pad spending for programs likely to be targeted by Republicans next year, so any future cuts will occur off a larger baseline. That includes $36 million more for public broadcasting, $1.5 billion for high-speed rail projects that many states say they can't afford, and $3 billion for green energy pork.
Republicans should be especially upset with the $1.1 billion to implement phase one of ObamaCare. This gives the Administration's bureaucracy a running start and means that Republicans will have to pass new legislation to rescind the fundingwhich Mr. Obama will veto. Why would Republicans vote for a bill that makes it harder for them to achieve one of their main political goals?
We're told that at least six and perhaps as many as 10 Republican Senators may give Mr. Reid the votes he needs to pass this monstrosity. That list includes Susan Collins of Maine, Mr. Cochran, and looming retirees Kit Bond of Missouri, Bob Bennett of Utah and George Voinovich of Ohio. This is the same Senator Voinovich who yesterday voted against extending the Bush-era tax rates on grounds that they are unaffordable.
more at-
Review & Outlook: The 111th Congress's Final Insult - WSJ.com
The dems had 11 months with a supra majority, for those not paying attention that means filibuster proof.
As part of their responsibility , the house kicks off by crafting, with input from the pres. the next years budget before passing it onto the senate, historically this is completed and submitted by June of say 2010 for enactment Jan. 2011. The process starts around March .hummm..what was going on in March?
In any event here we are, the 12 stand alone allotment/funding bills that are discussed and funded individually have all been rolled up in this bill. Plus the Pork....
Oh and just to get past the usual, I hate doing this but for those of you who will run for the "Bush did it ", Ronco all-in one class A-D debate fire extinguisher .good luck with that. Youll have to go a lot further back than that to find a year where-in there was absolutely no budget bill even offered for a vote.
My issues? Aside from the bill itself, IF the rep.s provide anymore votes other than the Ps.O.S. retirees outlined in the article, I am done with them.
I will issue no passes to the reps. What happened to the no pork pledge? In short, screw them too I have no use for any one of them and we just got passed an election wherein the biggest broadest message was- stop bleeding money you bozos ..
The 111th Congress's Final Insult
Bluto Blutarsky must have been an Appropriator.
* DECEMBER 16, 2010
The 111th Congress began with an $814 billion stimulus that blew out the federal balance sheet, so we suppose it's only fitting that the Members want to exit by passing a 1,924-page, $1.2 trillion omnibus spending bill. The worst Congress in modern history is true to its essence to the bitter end.
Think of this as a political version of the final scene in "Animal House," when the boys from the Delta frat react to their expulsion by busting up the local town parade for the sheer mayhem of it. Bluto Blutarsky (John Belushi) did go on to be a U.S. Senator in the film, and a man of his vision must have earned a seat on Appropriations.
Democrats have had 11 months to write a budget for fiscal 2011, which began on October 1.
But Majority Leader Harry Reid and Appropriations Chairman Daniel Inouye have dumped this trillion-dollar baby on Senators at the very last minute, when everyone is busy and wants to go home for the holidays. No doubt that was the plan. The continuing resolution to fund the government expires on Saturday, so Mr. Reid wants to squeeze Senators against the deadline. And with the press corps preoccupied by the tax debate, the spending bill is greased to slide through with little or no public scrutiny.
Defenders argue that the bill is restrained because it freezes overall spending for federal agencies at 2010 levels. But 2010 was an inflated budget with a $1.3 trillion deficit. Paul Ryan, soon to be House Budget Chairman, notes that nondefense discretionary spending rose 24% over those two years. Add stimulus funding and federal agency spending soared to $796 billion in 2010 from $434 billion, an 84% spending increase. (See nearby table.) Republicans have promised to return to 2008 spending levels, and the omnibus will make that much harder.
Then there are the pork and policy riders, such as a food safety bill with new authority for the Food and Drug Administration. The bill's 6,630 earmarks will cost more than $8.1 billion, according to Citizens Against Government Waste. While that's fewer than in 2009, what happened to the earmark ban promised by Republicans and supported by President Obama?
snip-
The bill makes a special effort to pad spending for programs likely to be targeted by Republicans next year, so any future cuts will occur off a larger baseline. That includes $36 million more for public broadcasting, $1.5 billion for high-speed rail projects that many states say they can't afford, and $3 billion for green energy pork.
Republicans should be especially upset with the $1.1 billion to implement phase one of ObamaCare. This gives the Administration's bureaucracy a running start and means that Republicans will have to pass new legislation to rescind the fundingwhich Mr. Obama will veto. Why would Republicans vote for a bill that makes it harder for them to achieve one of their main political goals?
We're told that at least six and perhaps as many as 10 Republican Senators may give Mr. Reid the votes he needs to pass this monstrosity. That list includes Susan Collins of Maine, Mr. Cochran, and looming retirees Kit Bond of Missouri, Bob Bennett of Utah and George Voinovich of Ohio. This is the same Senator Voinovich who yesterday voted against extending the Bush-era tax rates on grounds that they are unaffordable.
more at-
Review & Outlook: The 111th Congress's Final Insult - WSJ.com
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