(House bill earlier this week)
WASHINGTON (AP) – The House Wednesday took up a $630 billion-plus spending bill awarding the Pentagon a record budget while giving generous help to U.S. automakers and victims of hurricanes and floods.
The year-end budget measure also would lift a quarter-century ban on drilling for oil off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts and is flying under the political radar compared with a hugely controversial White House plan to bail out Wall Street.
(...)
The legislation came together in a remarkably secret process that concentrated decision-making power in the hands of just a few lawmakers, such as House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.
The rush to the floor also ran counter to Democratic promises for more open disclosure of billions of dollars worth of earmarks, those home-state pet projects sought by most lawmakers. Anti-earmark watchdogs such as Rep. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., and outside groups such as Taxpayers for Common Sense had but a few hours to scrutinize the legislation before debate began Wednesday morning.
The watchdog group discovered $6.6 billion worth of earmarks, including 1,997 totaling $4.8 billion in the defense portion alone. Among them was a long-standing request by the Iowa delegation for a new $182 million federal courthouse in Cedar Rapids, which was granted after flood damage this summer.
The secretive deliberations – and the intense spotlight cast on the separate Wall Street bailout – seemed to ensure that the spending measure would have a low profile. But that also meant Democrats will have to battle to remind voters of the gains made in funding for popular homeland security and veterans health programs.
more:
http://washingtontimes.com/news/2008/sep/24/pentagon-budget-bill-hits-new-record/*******************************************
The administration also succeeded in blocking Democrats' efforts to extend unemployment insurance, increase food stamp payments and help states deal with shortfalls in their Medicaid budgets.
Democrats doubled the money for heating subsidies for the poor and successfully pressed the White House for a generous $23 billion aid plan for disaster-ravaged states. The measure would avert a shortfall in Pell college aid grants and address problems in the Women, Infants and Children program, which delivers healthy foods to the poor.
Bush had threatened to veto bills that did not cut the number and cost of pet projects in half or cause agency operating budgets to exceed his request. Democrats ignored the edict as they drafted the plan and the White House has apparently backed down. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., suggested additional progress on the budget could have been made had Bush signaled such flexibility earlier.
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5injFfO8MlwJfFFF_n29IR630N94AD93DBGBO0