Bush gets his way
by Claudia Sonea
The request for more money for the war in Iraq and Afghanistan has finally got an answer and Bush can breathe easy now. On Wednesday the Congress approved $70 billion for military operations. Still, this decision did not make everyone happy; the Democrats who tried to force a change in President Bush's war policy were very disappointed. While the economy is in danger of recession and US currency loses ground in favor of other, US Congress decides to invest more money in war and support Bush's endless strive for it. The reasons were mainly that all the Democrats did not want to appear as denying money to troops in Iraq and also the fact that violence had decreased in that region showing that the American intervention has results. Furthermore, the anti-war democrats were forced by Bush and his Senate GOP allies who approved and signed the year-end budget deal. The long lasting fight with Democrats over agency budgets implied some accusations from Conservatives and outside groups such as the Club for Growth, which seeks to elect lawmakers opposed to tax and spending increases, that too much money were spent. Mostly there were passed by the bill $28 billion more in domestic spending than Bush's budget and the money was deducted from "emergency" spending, transfers from the defense budget and other maneuvers. But the Republicans justified the measure as being the baseline, according to House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio who supported the spoiling of the plans of record budget increases for veterans and to build a fence and provide additional security along the U.S.-Mexico border. For Democrats although the Congress' decision was a defeat, but the finishing of the budget and enact the spending bills smoothed it a little (because last year they criticized the majority of Republicans for not doing it). Therefore the spending legislation would pay for food and toy safety inspections, NASA, the FBI, the Coast Guard, education, health research and national park operations. To all this 9,000 pet projects sought by lawmakers, at a cost of more than $7 billion, are added, stated Taxpayers for Common Sense, a Washington-based group that fights such projects. Another result would be the increase of the pay of federal civilian workers by 3.5 percent, the extent of farm subsidies the food stamp program until March 15 and the elimination of money for a next generation nuclear warhead. All in all, the bill brought an ease on everyone when it comes to the continuous fight between the Democrats and the US President. Still, for the troops back in Iraq and Afghanistan this means another year without family and Christmas spent away from home. Merry Christmas and a happy New Year for them!
related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071219/ap_on_go_co/budget_battle;_ylt=Asw41cQ9QG3Jpk8A9K77i2is0NUE
by Claudia Sonea for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv) |
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