Dems porkin’ out on defense money

Now we find out why the Democrats really want to restrict funding for the war. The AP writes;

The expected battle with the White House over the add-ons is getting far less attention than debate over Iraq, but it could reveal a lot about how much Democrats will be able to rewrite the president’s budget later this year.

Bush has yet to veto a spending bill, and Democrats are gambling he’ll sign the Iraq measure despite objections to spending he didn’t seek. Republicans, meanwhile, would be reluctant to vote against the package since it contains funds for U.S. troops overseas.

Both Democrats and Republicans are pushing extra spending into the war funding bill as they seek to advance pet projects that likely would fail if advanced on their own.

In a related AP piece, the highlights of the Democrats’ wishlist are;

_$3.4 billion for housing assistance and infrastructure improvements associated with Hurricane Katrina.

_$200 million for other agencies.

Potential congressional add-ons to the bill:

_$4 billion in drought relief for farmers in the Great Plains.

_$3.1 billion for military base construction and closings.

_$1.3 billion for New Orleans levee improvements.

_$1.2 billion in relief, unemployment, food and housing aid arising out of a freeze that destroyed citrus, avocado and other crops in California’s Central Valley.

_$745 million to deal with a shortfall in the State Children’s Health Insurance Program in 14 states.

_$400 million for a one-year extension of payments to rural counties in the Pacific Northwest to make up for timbering cutbacks in national forests.

More dirty politics from the dirty politics people.

Category: Politics