Watching this on c-span is totally surreal. The NEED for impeachment is so strong, yet the roll call vote on this is going to be the most interesting thing ever.
The GI bill, tax reform, disaster relief measures all needed to be passed. But to attach them to another blank check for an illegal war is the height of tyranny.
Most interesting was how the republicans who voted against this noted the budget problem, but so minimized the level of debt.
Think the Chinese are going to bail out this fiasco? Hardly likely!
The House is slated on Thursday to ratify a deal worked out between House Democrats and Republicans and the White House. If it passes as expected, the measure would put to rest Bush's long-standing battles with the Democrats over war funding. At the same time, Democrats would win help for the unemployed and a remarkably generous increase in GI Bill education benefits for military service members.
House passage of the bill also would pave the way for a quick infusion of emergency flood relief for the Midwest, though more is expected to be needed to deal with the terrible losses in Iowa, Illinois and other states.
The latest installment of war funding would bring to well over $600 billion the amount of money Congress has provided for the unpopular war in Iraq. It also would give Bush's successor several months to set Iraq policy after taking office in January — and spares lawmakers the need to cast more war-related votes closer to Election Day.
"The way it's been set up now, whoever ... is president will have a few months to think through how we are going to extricate ourselves," said House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., a key negotiator.
White House Budget Director Jim Nussle said Thursday that President Bush "can support" the measure.
The agreement drops restrictions on Bush's ability to conduct the war and gives him almost all of the funding he sought more than a year ago for Iraq and Afghanistan.
Anti-war Democrats are frustrated at their inability to alter the course of the war after taking control of Congress last year.
"The president basically gets a blank check to dump this war on the next president," said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass. "I was hoping George Bush would end his war while he's president."
But Democrats were pleased after overcoming White House opposition to adding the unemployment and GI Bill provisions.
The White House — and Capitol Hill Republicans — had signaled greater flexibility in recent weeks after Democrats orchestrated impressive votes to more than double GI Bill college benefits and give a 13-week extension of unemployment payments for people whose benefits have run out.
In late-stage talks, Democrats dropped a provision to pay for the GI college benefits by imposing a half-percentage point income tax surcharge on incomes exceeding $500,000 for single taxpayers and incomes over $1 million earned by married couples. They also dropped a plan to extend unemployment benefits for an additional 13 weeks in states with particularly high unemployment rates.
Democrats and governors across the country emerged the victors in a battle with the White House to block new Bush administration rules designed to cut spending on Medicaid health care for the poor and disabled.
Conservative "Blue Dog" Democrats are upset that the new GI Bill benefits, with costs tentatively estimated at $62 billion over the next decade, will be added to the deficit instead of being "paid for" as called for under House rules.
"We know the day of reckoning is coming," said Rep. Dennis Cardoza, D-Calif., who said not paying for the GI Bill benefit was "totally irresponsible."
The new GI Bill essentially would guarantee a full scholarship at any in-state public university, along with a monthly housing stipend, for people who serve in the military for at least three years. It is aimed at replicating the benefits awarded veterans of World War II and more than doubles the value of the benefit — from $40,000 today to $90,000.
On war spending, the bill would prohibit U.S. money from being spent on Iraq reconstruction efforts unless Baghdad matches every dollar spent. But negotiators dropped a demand that Bush negotiate an agreement with Baghdad to subsidize the U.S. military's fuel costs so troops operating in Iraq aren't paying any more than Iraqi citizens are.
See also:
Congress' war bill helps Iraqi refugees, could ignore homeless Hurricane Katrina victims
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