Today in Washington D. C. - March 2, 2009 - #pork,#diggcon, #statebooks

The Senate begins consideration of H.R. 1105, the fiscal year 2009 omnibus appropriations bill. The $410 billion bill that will only fund the government until October and combines the 9 un-passed appropriations bills from last year and funds the federal government through September. A continuing resolution passed last fall expires Friday. As many of you know, last Thursday, the Senate passed the unconstitutional DC voting bill (S. 160) by a vote of 61-37. It is expected the House, will agree with the Senate's amendment stopping the "fairness doctrine" even though the house House leadership hates conservative radio because they also succeeded in a backdoor amendment to still attack the free speech. It is hoped that a case will be brought before the U.S. Supreme Court on allowing the District of Columbia to have a voting Representative in violation of the U.S. Constitution.

The $410 billion omnibus appropriations bill includes excessive spending, duplicate funding for programs that already received money in the stimulus bill, and just plain bad policy. It’s worth revisiting the history of this bill. Last year, the Democrat Congress did not pass its annual appropriations bills on time. In fact, only one of the 12 bills was even brought to the floor of the House for a vote, and none were considered by the Senate. As CQ Weekly explains, “[President] Bush threatened to veto spending bills that exceeded his [budget] request, so Democrats chose to pass a continuing resolution (PL 110-329). In delaying the spending fights until this year, congressional Democrats last year gambled on having a Democratic president who would agree to the spending boosts they wanted.” Only 3 spending bills, those for Defense, Homeland Security, and the VA, were eventually passed last year as part of the continuing resolution (CR). The current CR expires on Friday, so Democrats are looking to quickly move this omnibus bill to fund the government for the rest of the fiscal year.

CQ reports, “The omnibus would provide more than $31 billion, or 8 percent, more than the total discretionary funding in the fiscal 2008 versions of the nine bills in the package. The spending figure is $19 billion more than Bush requested for the fiscal 2009 bills.” This spending comes in the wake of an unprecedented $787 billion stimulus package, and it appears that Democrats have gone back to the cookie jar for a second helping on a number of programs that received funding in the stimulus bill. Noting that last week, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell said, “we're on a spending spree of gargantuan proportions here and a good time to stop it would be getting this omnibus appropriation bill slipped down to a size that was consistent with the current budget.”

It seems that Democrats don’t want to pass up any opportunity to reverse policies from the Bush administration, even ones with bipartisan support. The omnibus bill includes a provision designed to kill the voucher program offered to students in Washington, D.C. The Washington Post tears into Democrats over this plan in an editorial today, writing, “Rep. David R. Obey (Wis.) and other congressional Democrats should spare us their phony concern about the children participating in the District's school voucher program. If they cared for the future of these students, they wouldn't be so quick as to try to kill the program that affords low-income, minority children a chance at a better education.” The Post laments what it sees as the real reason for this problem, saying, “[T]he debate unfolding on Capitol Hill isn't about facts. It's about politics and the stranglehold the teachers unions have on the Democratic Party.”

Given all of these issues, this omnibus could not only could use an overhaul, but it is on the fast track to greater National Debt.

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