Ironslave
Mecca V.I.P.
VIP
- Joined
- Jul 12, 2006
- Messages
- 4,608
- Points
- 38
This is typical republican-democrat interaction. One side wants money for one area, the other side wants money for another area, both will be pissy if they don't get what they want, so they compromise and just throw money at everything.
WASHINGTON — House leaders struck a bipartisan deal on Wednesday night on a major spending measure that would provide money for the war in Iraq through the end of the Bush administration, establish a significant new education benefit for veterans, and meet Democratic demands for added unemployment benefits.
The bill, which could be voted on as early as Thursday in the House, would effectively bring to a close the two-year battle between President Bush and Congressional Democrats over war financing by allocating about $163 billion for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through early next year without imposing conditions like a withdrawal deadline.
White House officials took part in the talks that produced the agreement, suggesting the president was willing to sign the emerging legislation.
“I think we have an agreement,” said Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, who worked out the final deal in talks with Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader, as well as senior members of both parties from the Appropriations and Ways and Means Committees.
The measure would entitle veterans, those who enlisted after the Sept. 11 attacks and served three years or more, to what amounts to four years of college education at a state university. To win Republican support, House leaders dropped a plan to pay the $50 billion cost of the program through a tax on affluent Americans and also agreed that some of the benefits could be transferred to immediate family members.
In response to a Democratic push to aid laid-off workers whose unemployment pay is running out, the bill would extend jobless benefits for 13 weeks in all states, according to Congressional officials briefed on the contents of the measure. But in a concession, they said, the bill would drop a plan for an additional 13 weeks of benefits for the hardest-hit states and reinstate a requirement that workers must have put in 20 weeks on the job to qualify.
The bill, one of the few must-pass measures facing a highly partisan election-year Congress, would also allocate about $2.5 billion to deal with the flooding in the Midwest and provide money for the continuing recovery in Louisiana from Hurricane Katrina. It would also block a series of new administration rules that lawmakers said would cut Medicaid health services for the poor.
“This bill is a real victory,” Mr. Boehner said. “It gets our troops the funding they need for success, without hamstringing our commanders in the field with politically motivated war restrictions. It provides new resources to help our veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan get a better education, without raising taxes unnecessarily on the American people. It also does not include billions in unrelated wasteful Washington pork that was added by Senate Democrats.”
While the measure does not include most of the restrictions on war spending long opposed by the administration, Democratic aides said the measure would retain a prohibition on permanent American military bases in Iraq and also call on the Iraqi government to share equally in the cost of rebuilding the country.
The willingness of House Republicans and Democrats to reach a deal showed that both sides concluded it was expedient for them to dispose of politically troublesome issues like the war money and the unemployment aid. Mr. Bush, should he sign the measure, would be relenting as well since he had earlier indicated he would reject the veterans program and the unemployment aid.
Senate leaders were not directly involved in the talks, and the tentative deal does not include some of the spending programs that senators had included in their own version, leaving it in question whether the Senate would go along with the House agreement. But the plan did take into account the Senate view that the new G. I. benefit promoted by Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, not be underwritten through a new tax.
“Early reports indicate the House will send us a supplemental that includes a G. I. Bill, extends unemployment insurance and provides disaster relief — three important priorities we have been pushing for some time,” said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader. “We look forward to reviewing the House’s complete proposal, and we will take it up quickly once we receive it.”
The agreement was something of a surprise because many lawmakers and aides expected the House to pass a version that would draw little Republican support, necessitating another round of negotiations and votes. But the speaker, Nancy Pelosi, made it clear in recent days that she wanted a measure that Congress could pass and would be signed by the president before Congress breaks for the Fourth of July next week. The Pentagon has raised the possibility that workers might have to be furloughed if Congress did not act by then.
WASHINGTON — House leaders struck a bipartisan deal on Wednesday night on a major spending measure that would provide money for the war in Iraq through the end of the Bush administration, establish a significant new education benefit for veterans, and meet Democratic demands for added unemployment benefits.
The bill, which could be voted on as early as Thursday in the House, would effectively bring to a close the two-year battle between President Bush and Congressional Democrats over war financing by allocating about $163 billion for combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan through early next year without imposing conditions like a withdrawal deadline.
White House officials took part in the talks that produced the agreement, suggesting the president was willing to sign the emerging legislation.
“I think we have an agreement,” said Representative Steny H. Hoyer of Maryland, the majority leader, who worked out the final deal in talks with Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader, as well as senior members of both parties from the Appropriations and Ways and Means Committees.
The measure would entitle veterans, those who enlisted after the Sept. 11 attacks and served three years or more, to what amounts to four years of college education at a state university. To win Republican support, House leaders dropped a plan to pay the $50 billion cost of the program through a tax on affluent Americans and also agreed that some of the benefits could be transferred to immediate family members.
In response to a Democratic push to aid laid-off workers whose unemployment pay is running out, the bill would extend jobless benefits for 13 weeks in all states, according to Congressional officials briefed on the contents of the measure. But in a concession, they said, the bill would drop a plan for an additional 13 weeks of benefits for the hardest-hit states and reinstate a requirement that workers must have put in 20 weeks on the job to qualify.
The bill, one of the few must-pass measures facing a highly partisan election-year Congress, would also allocate about $2.5 billion to deal with the flooding in the Midwest and provide money for the continuing recovery in Louisiana from Hurricane Katrina. It would also block a series of new administration rules that lawmakers said would cut Medicaid health services for the poor.
“This bill is a real victory,” Mr. Boehner said. “It gets our troops the funding they need for success, without hamstringing our commanders in the field with politically motivated war restrictions. It provides new resources to help our veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan get a better education, without raising taxes unnecessarily on the American people. It also does not include billions in unrelated wasteful Washington pork that was added by Senate Democrats.”
While the measure does not include most of the restrictions on war spending long opposed by the administration, Democratic aides said the measure would retain a prohibition on permanent American military bases in Iraq and also call on the Iraqi government to share equally in the cost of rebuilding the country.
The willingness of House Republicans and Democrats to reach a deal showed that both sides concluded it was expedient for them to dispose of politically troublesome issues like the war money and the unemployment aid. Mr. Bush, should he sign the measure, would be relenting as well since he had earlier indicated he would reject the veterans program and the unemployment aid.
Senate leaders were not directly involved in the talks, and the tentative deal does not include some of the spending programs that senators had included in their own version, leaving it in question whether the Senate would go along with the House agreement. But the plan did take into account the Senate view that the new G. I. benefit promoted by Senator Jim Webb, Democrat of Virginia, not be underwritten through a new tax.
“Early reports indicate the House will send us a supplemental that includes a G. I. Bill, extends unemployment insurance and provides disaster relief — three important priorities we have been pushing for some time,” said Jim Manley, a spokesman for Senator Harry Reid of Nevada, the majority leader. “We look forward to reviewing the House’s complete proposal, and we will take it up quickly once we receive it.”
The agreement was something of a surprise because many lawmakers and aides expected the House to pass a version that would draw little Republican support, necessitating another round of negotiations and votes. But the speaker, Nancy Pelosi, made it clear in recent days that she wanted a measure that Congress could pass and would be signed by the president before Congress breaks for the Fourth of July next week. The Pentagon has raised the possibility that workers might have to be furloughed if Congress did not act by then.
way to go USA
