steven
November 18th, 2005, 02:48 PM
WASHINGTON - Nearly two dozen renegade Republicans teamed up with the Democrats on Thursday to shoot down a giant health and education spending bill for the coming year, dealing an unusual defeat to a House GOP leadership that has been struggling to keep control of the budget.
By a vote of 224 to 209, the House rejected the $142.5 billion measure, which contained spending cuts in many health care and education programs that are strongly supported by moderate Republicans and by Democrats. Many rank-and-file lawmakers were unhappy with the bill as well because it did not contain special programs and projects they had sought for their congressional districts.
Stunned Republican leaders then scrambled Thursday night to avert a second setback on fiscal policy by rounding up votes for a much broader budget blueprint for the next five years that would target many programs for the poor, college students and farmers. But to win over moderates, GOP leaders had to scale back their projected savings in food stamps, school lunch subsidies and Medicaid.
By late evening, the budget plan that was supposed to save $54 billion over five years offered less than $50 billion in savings, compared with $35 billion of reductions previously approved by the Senate.
In the Senate, meanwhile, Republicans beat back Democratic attempts to pinch oil and energy companies that have been reporting record profits while consumers pay high gasoline prices.
The Senate later passed a $60 billion bill early today that would extend expiring tax cuts and prevent roughly 14 million families from paying higher taxes through the alternative minimum tax.
It drew a presidential veto threat for raising taxes on oil companies.
Much of the bill, passed 64-33 after midnight, preserves tax cuts approved in previous years that are set to expire unless lawmakers keep them alive. "I call this bill the 'Tax Increase Prevention Act,'" said Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.
The energy amendments faced opposition from the Republican majority and stood little chance of success. But they reflected attentiveness on Capitol Hill to high gasoline prices and fears of skyrocketing home-heating costs this winter.
Thursday's action in the House underscored Congress' challenges as it rushes to complete work this year while being buffeted by the conflicting demands of conservatives who want to cut social and health care programs and of moderates and liberals who want to keep the money flowing. One major task facing Congress is to finish work on 11 spending bills to finance government operations and freeze many agency budgets for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. Those bills are essential to keep the government running.
Another is to push through a major deficit-reduction bill that would extract savings from big entitlement programs, including Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps and college grants. As of Thursday night, many moderate House Republicans were saying that they had blunted the cuts enough to vote for the bill.
Passing the budget has grown increasingly imperative to a leadership rocked by scandal and on the verge of losing control of its rank and file. House GOP leaders last week jettisoned one of Bush's top priorities - opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling - but that was not enough to win the bill's passage.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20051118/1058174.asp
By a vote of 224 to 209, the House rejected the $142.5 billion measure, which contained spending cuts in many health care and education programs that are strongly supported by moderate Republicans and by Democrats. Many rank-and-file lawmakers were unhappy with the bill as well because it did not contain special programs and projects they had sought for their congressional districts.
Stunned Republican leaders then scrambled Thursday night to avert a second setback on fiscal policy by rounding up votes for a much broader budget blueprint for the next five years that would target many programs for the poor, college students and farmers. But to win over moderates, GOP leaders had to scale back their projected savings in food stamps, school lunch subsidies and Medicaid.
By late evening, the budget plan that was supposed to save $54 billion over five years offered less than $50 billion in savings, compared with $35 billion of reductions previously approved by the Senate.
In the Senate, meanwhile, Republicans beat back Democratic attempts to pinch oil and energy companies that have been reporting record profits while consumers pay high gasoline prices.
The Senate later passed a $60 billion bill early today that would extend expiring tax cuts and prevent roughly 14 million families from paying higher taxes through the alternative minimum tax.
It drew a presidential veto threat for raising taxes on oil companies.
Much of the bill, passed 64-33 after midnight, preserves tax cuts approved in previous years that are set to expire unless lawmakers keep them alive. "I call this bill the 'Tax Increase Prevention Act,'" said Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa.
The energy amendments faced opposition from the Republican majority and stood little chance of success. But they reflected attentiveness on Capitol Hill to high gasoline prices and fears of skyrocketing home-heating costs this winter.
Thursday's action in the House underscored Congress' challenges as it rushes to complete work this year while being buffeted by the conflicting demands of conservatives who want to cut social and health care programs and of moderates and liberals who want to keep the money flowing. One major task facing Congress is to finish work on 11 spending bills to finance government operations and freeze many agency budgets for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. Those bills are essential to keep the government running.
Another is to push through a major deficit-reduction bill that would extract savings from big entitlement programs, including Medicaid, Medicare, food stamps and college grants. As of Thursday night, many moderate House Republicans were saying that they had blunted the cuts enough to vote for the bill.
Passing the budget has grown increasingly imperative to a leadership rocked by scandal and on the verge of losing control of its rank and file. House GOP leaders last week jettisoned one of Bush's top priorities - opening Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil drilling - but that was not enough to win the bill's passage.
http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20051118/1058174.asp