Their political ambition is so important...
The Department of Veterans' Affairs budget will be particularly hard hit. The House and Senate budgeted $36.5 billion for the department in fiscal 2007, but Congress' failure to act on the spending bills will leave it funded at last year's level of $34.26 billion -- even as costs and the number of people it treats continues to rise.
That means thousands of battle-wounded soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan may have to wait longer for VA medical treatment.
They gove no thought to the real-world impact of their strategies.
Incoming Democrats face fiscal minefield
Funding gaps left in programs
By Rick Klein, Globe Staff | December 9, 2006
WASHINGTON -- The outgoing Republican Congress has placed a political time bomb for incoming Democrats: Nearly all domestic programs paid for by the federal government are level funded through mid-February with no adjustments for inflation, a situation that probably will trigger cuts or reductions in such popular areas as veterans' affairs, children's healthcare, housing vouchers, and low-income fuel assistance.
Democrats, who take control of Congress in January, will therefore have to immediately choose between restoring any lost services and their campaign pledge to control government spending. The clash could expose tensions within the party in the crucial first weeks of Democrats' leadership -- and the party's agenda could get sidetracked in a pitched battle over spending priorities.
"As the Republicans leave their control of Congress, they've decided to blow up the room," said Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the assistant Democratic leader. "They're leaving behind a disaster for us to deal with."
Republicans will adjourn the 2006 congressional term today without passing nine of the 11 annual appropriations bills, which cover thousands of government programs and nearly half a trillion dollars in domestic spending. Instead, Congress passed a stopgap measure that will keep government operating at a bare-bones level through mid-February -- more than a quarter of the way into fiscal 2007.
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But...
by the time the next elections come around, middle America will have forgotten the cause of these shortages - and will only blame the democrats for not having fixed them in record time...these are the same folks who allowed bush to piss away the surpluses that clinton built up - ostensibly to "defend the honor" of his daddy and the 3030 killed on 9/11. with political calculus like this, why shouldn't the republicans continue to run up deficits and ignore voters? it's really a perfect political deal for them. kinda makes you wonder why black republicans would ever spend a moments time talking about race - and instead use their meager intellectual capital on fleecing middle class white folks...i guess they are dumber than that proverbial box of rocks. they've been wholly unsuccessful leading black folk down that path - but, as living testaments to the "fairness" of america, they could enlist many more white folk - just by being a jc watts-type and fleecing folks...i could be up for that.
by the time the next
You think a war is less memorable than a blow job?
You're joking, of course.Â
For the proletariat, yes a
For the proletariat, yes a bj is more memorable than a war. Their own warped morality trumps any substantial event or policy. That's why the 4th Reich is happening full speed ahead with encouragement -- not protest -- from the laity.
Fortunately they ARE a
Fortunately they ARE a minority, and pretty much geographically centralized (coagulated my be as good a term).