Today in Washington D. C. - May 21, 2008

On The Floor: . Following an hour of morning business, an hour will be set aside for tributes to Lyndon Johnson, on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of his birth. The Senate is then expected to resume consideration of the House message to accompany the war supplemental appropriations bill (H.R. 2642). If an agreement can be reached, there could be votes on the fiscal 2009 budget conference report (S. Con. Res. 70) today. If not, votes are expected Thursday. Yesterday, the Senate confirmed the nomination of Steven Agee to the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The AgJOBS amnesty and the employment-based permanent workers has been stripped from the Iraq Supplemental bill. Unfortunately, the H-2B low-sill worker increase is still in the Iraq Supplemental.

From Senate & News Sources: As the Memorial Day recess rapidly approaches, Senate Democrats last night scrapped the version of the supplemental war funding bill they initially brought up on Tuesday. Democrats have been trying to find a way to “load up” the bill with more than $28 billion in extra spending over the next two years, according to the AP. Today, the National Review Online lays out the problems with the supplemental bill that Democrats have crafted and says: “We should be able to fund our troops in the field without paying billions of dollars in ransom to Congress’s pet projects.”

The issue of the spending itself aside, Democrats’ insistence on larding up the bill with “veto bait” is only serving to delay passage of the funds our troops need. The Pentagon has indicated it must have the funding approved by the middle of June, otherwise “the Defense Department will be unable to make payroll for our uniformed Army,” as Sen. McConnell pointed out. NRO was clear about what the hold-up means: “[T]hanks to Senator Reid’s lacksidasical management, even this flawed piece of legislation will probably not be sent to the president until after Memorial Day — meaning that we’ll be honoring our veterans while leaving our active-duty troops in the lurch.”

While Democrats struggle to figure out what to do with the supplemental bill, conferees agreed to a conference report on the fiscal 2009 budget resolution, which the House is scheduled to consider today. Unfortunately, there is little improvement in the budget since it was last seen. According to the AP, “The House-Senate compromise, more than a month overdue, contains a host of shaky assumptions - and forecasts that many of President Bush's signature tax cuts will expire on schedule at the end of 2010.”

Sen. Judd Gregg, ranking Republican on the Senate Budget Committee said yesterday, “This is a partisan budget crafted behind closed doors -- a budget that’s bad for taxpayers and bad for the economy. It includes the largest tax increase in history, blows through the $1 trillion mark in annual discretionary spending, and once again completely punts the urgent issue of entitlement spending reform.” Sen. McConnell added this morning, “American families can’t afford this budget. American job creators can’t afford this budget. And our economy can’t afford this budget.”

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