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Senate Sending Obama New $447 Billion Spending Bill (And Guess What, It Contains Earmarks) (Washington Post)
The Senate cleared for President Obama’s signature on Sunday a $447 billion omnibus spending bill that contains thousands of earmarks and double-digit increases for several Cabinet agencies, the latest target for Republicans seeking to make growing federal deficits a focal point of the 2010 elections.
The House may vote this week to raise the federal debt ceiling by at least $1.8 trillion, as the current limit is set to be breached by New Year’s Eve. Republicans and Democrats are also engaged in a rhetorical war over how to use unspent funds from the financial bailout program, with the GOP clamoring that the money be devoted to deficit reduction.
Those debates, combined with the $787 billion stimulus package passed earlier this year and the slow march toward a roughly $1 trillion health-care reform bill, have focused Republican attacks on Democrats’ spending habits — a preview of the GOP’s probable strategy in November.
“It is business as usual, spending money like a drunken sailor, and the bar is still open,” Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) said during the weekend’s omnibus debate.
Democrats say they do not deserve most of the blame for the red ink. They say that President George W. Bush inherited a budget surplus in 2001 and turned it into a large deficit by the time he left office, and that earmarks and spending grew robustly in the 12 years Republicans controlled Congress.
Still, Democrats are planning a two-pronged response: Put procedural controls in place to stem future deficits and, more important, boost federal tax revenue by growing the economy and reducing unemployment.
FOR CONTINUATION OF THIS STORY, CLICK THIS LINK FOR THE WASHINGTON POST: Democrats clear spending bill in Senate – washingtonpost.com.
