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  • From: "Toni Hawryluk" <tonihawr AT msn.com>
  • To: "Homestead mailing list" <homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Homestead] plenty to kill Americans, less and less *for* Americans
  • Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 18:17:44 -0800

http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap11-20-130506.asp?t=apnew&vts=112020041756<http://famulus.msnbc.com/famulusgen/ap11-20-130506.asp?t=apnew&vts=112020041756>



House passes $388 billion spending bill that reins in domestic programs

By ALAN FRAM
ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 - Republicans whisked a $388 billion spending bill
through the House on Saturday, a mammoth measure that underscores the
dominance of deficit politics



by curbing dollars



for everything from education to environmental cleanups.

Lawmakers approved the measure by a bipartisan 344-51 margin on what
might be the last day of their post-election session.

Though not in doubt, passage was taking longer in the Senate.
Abortion-rights supporters there were opposing a provision making it easier
for health-care providers to decline to provide abortions or offer counseling
and referrals.
Senate Democrats also objected to language letting top members of
Congress' Appropriations committees send people to examine income tax
returns, without any penalties should they publicly disclose them.
Republicans said they also opposed the language and would eliminate it in
later legislation.
From its tight domestic spending to the Democratic-backed provisions
on overtime and other issues that were dropped, the bill is a monument to the
GOP's raw power controlling the White House and Congress. An imposing
monument, too: The bill and explanatory report, completed near midnight
Friday, were about 14 inches tall, leaving many lawmakers baffled about its
precise contents.
''I'm very proud of the fact that we held the line and made Congress
make choices and set priorities, because it follows our philosophy,''
Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said in House debate.
Even President Bush's initiatives were not immune to cuts as the
bill's GOP chief authors heeded his demands to control spending. His request
for development of new nuclear weapons was rejected; his budget for the
AmeriCorps volunteer program was sliced by 12 percent; and the $2.5 billion
he wanted to aid countries adopting democratic practices was slashed by $1
billion.
Passage would crown the lame-duck session of Congress, which began
Tuesday. Lawmakers hoped to leave town for the year Saturday night, but
Senate delays on the spending bill and the collapse of bargaining over a
measure reorganizing <>U.S. intelligence agencies left timing in doubt.
Also enacted during the postelection session was an $800 billion
increase in the government's borrowing limit. The measure was yet another
testament to record annual deficits, which reached $413 billion last year and
are expected to climb indefinitely.
While the spending bill was one of the most austere in years, it had
something for virtually every lawmaker, including mountains of home-district
projects. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a bipartisan group favoring less
federal spending, said it found 11,772 projects worth $15.8 billion.
Projects included:
-$335,000 to protect sunflowers in North Dakota from blackbird damage.
-$60 million for a new courthouse in Las Cruces, N.M.
-$225,000 to study catfish genomes at Alabama's Auburn University.
-A potential boon for Bush himself, $2 million for the government to
try buying back the former presidential yacht Sequoia. The boat was sold
three decades ago, and its current owners say the yacht is assessed at $9.8
million and are distressed by the provision.
Despite complaints the bill was too stingy, most Democrats supported
it. They helped write it and included many projects for themselves. They knew
the alternative - holding spending to last year's levels - would be $4
billion tighter.
Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., said the bill ''falls so far from meeting our
investment obligations for the future that it could only be brought to the
floor by the majority party after the election.''
The measure was a compendium of nine bills that Republicans found too
contentious to complete before the Nov. 2 elections. The legislation covers
almost every domestic agency and department, plus foreign aid.
The FBI, the Securities and Exchange Commission and NASA got healthy
increases. But education grew by less than 2 percent. The Environmental
Protection Agency grew by 3.5 percent.
Overall, the nine bills the measure combined were just 2 percent
larger than last year's versions. When foreign aid and defense spending are
omitted, the remaining domestic programs grew by around 1 percent.
To stay within the spending constraints Bush demanded, all programs in
the bill eventually will be cut by at least 0.8 percent.
One of the last measures to pass Congress this year, the spending bill
bore fruit for many industries while leaving other interests short.
There will be visas for 20,000 more skilled foreign workers for high
technology businesses. Satellite television companies will be able to feed
digital network programming to rural viewers.
Two labor-led efforts failed to make the cut. One would have blocked
Bush administration rules on overtime pay. The second would have prevented
the Internal Revenue Service from using private debt collectors to collect
overdue taxes.
Efforts to extend some federal milk subsidies and repeal
country-of-origin labels for many foods also failed. But included were new
rules governing the recreational use of federal lands and federal small
business programs.
A bridge near the Hoover Dam between Arizona and Nevada was named for
Pat Tillman, the professional football player killed while serving in the
military in Afghanistan.
House Agriculture Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., won a
provision naming the oak tree as the national tree.
Congress is supposed to complete 13 spending bills financing federal
agencies by the Oct. 1 start of each budget year. Four of those bills
financing the military, homeland security and the District of Columbia were
enacted earlier this year.
To give White House officials time to review the bill, the House
passed a measure temporarily financing covered agencies through Dec. 3.
Senate passage was expected.



© 2004 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be
published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.





  • [Homestead] plenty to kill Americans, less and less *for* Americans, Toni Hawryluk, 11/20/2004

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