Senate Balks at Implementing Budget Cuts

[maddezmom]

WASHINGTON - President Bush's quest to rein in congressional spending is losing ground to Senate old-timers in his own party who understand the power of the purse and aren't reluctant to use it.

~snip~

Appropriations Chairman Thad Cochran, R-Miss., is now leading the charge to rewrite the budget.

Last month, he orchestrated a shift of $8 billion from the defense and foreign aid budgets to the domestic side of the ledger. He also has blessed another $3.3 billion in budget trickery to free up funds for health research, medical training programs and heating subsidies for the poor, among myriad programs.

It's an open secret that the Pentagon cuts will probably be restored through emergency funding that's supposed to pay for the war in Iraq. That would be a de facto way to exceed the $843 billion spending cap for the 11 appropriations bills for the fiscal year that begins Oct.

more:http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20050715/ap_on_go_co/congress_spending_cuts_2

[fasttense]

1. Why be budget conscious when deficits don't matter according to repukes?