Madtown HD Junkie
March 11th, 2009, 09:01 AM
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/03/10/senate-ready-clear-huge-spending-obama/
WASHINGTON -- Congress on Tuesday cleared for President Obama's signature a $410 billion measure to fund the government, a measure denounced by most Republicans as an example of reckless spending.
The Senate approved the measure by voice after it cleared a key procedural hurdle by a 62-35 vote. Sixty votes were required to shut down debate.
Obama will sign the measure Wednesday, the White House said, but he will also announce steps aimed at curbing lawmakers' penchant for pet projects.
The $410 billion bill is chock-full of lawmakers' pet projects and significant increases in food aid for the poor, energy research and other programs. It was supposed to have been completed last fall.
The bill ran into an unexpected political hailstorm in Congress after Obama's spending-heavy economic stimulus bill and his 2010 budget plan forecasting a $1.8 trillion deficit for the current budget year. And Republicans seized on Obama's willingness to sign a bill packed with pet projects after he assailed them as a candidate.
"If it had not been for the stimulus and the budget proposal it might have been ... noncontroversial," said House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio. "The stimulus bill riled an awful lot of people up. ... And then the budget proposal comes out."
Within Democratic ranks, there was relief, not jubilation...........
WASHINGTON -- Congress on Tuesday cleared for President Obama's signature a $410 billion measure to fund the government, a measure denounced by most Republicans as an example of reckless spending.
The Senate approved the measure by voice after it cleared a key procedural hurdle by a 62-35 vote. Sixty votes were required to shut down debate.
Obama will sign the measure Wednesday, the White House said, but he will also announce steps aimed at curbing lawmakers' penchant for pet projects.
The $410 billion bill is chock-full of lawmakers' pet projects and significant increases in food aid for the poor, energy research and other programs. It was supposed to have been completed last fall.
The bill ran into an unexpected political hailstorm in Congress after Obama's spending-heavy economic stimulus bill and his 2010 budget plan forecasting a $1.8 trillion deficit for the current budget year. And Republicans seized on Obama's willingness to sign a bill packed with pet projects after he assailed them as a candidate.
"If it had not been for the stimulus and the budget proposal it might have been ... noncontroversial," said House GOP leader John Boehner of Ohio. "The stimulus bill riled an awful lot of people up. ... And then the budget proposal comes out."
Within Democratic ranks, there was relief, not jubilation...........