Bush chides Dems on pork in Iraq bill

[maddezmom]

Source: Associated Press

Bush chides Dems on pork in Iraq bill By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer
18 minutes ago



WASHINGTON - President Bush, seeking to one-up Congress' Democratic majority in a showdown over the Iraq war, suggested Saturday that lawmakers should be ashamed that they added non-war items to an Iraq spending bill.

"I like peanuts as much as the next guy, but I believe the security of our troops should come before the security of our peanut crop," Bush said in his weekly radio address, referring to a provision in the war funding legislation that earmarks $74 million for secure peanut storage.

The Senate has passed a bill calling for most U.S. combat troops to be out of Iraq by March 31, 2008, while the House version demands a September 2008 withdrawal. In both houses, the timelines are attached to legislation providing money to fund military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year.

Bush repeated his promise to veto the bills if the timelines stay in — and if the unrelated earmarks stay in as well — because they "undercut our troops in the field."



Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070331/ap_on_go_pr_wh/bush

[TwilightGardener]

1. I thought the "pork" in the bill was actually budget/funding issues

that the Republicans blew off last year. If that's true, then Dems need to make that clear to the public.

[Zenlitened]

4. Headline: 'President' Bush Does Not Understand How the Budget Process Works

:eyes:

Six years on the job, and he STILL doesn't know how to run a country. Still doesn't have what it takes to get the American people's business done.

The man is a failure. Still.

[rodeodance]

6. another thread here:

Forum Name General Discussion: Politics
Topic subject AP: Bush Chides Dems on Pork in Iraq Bill (weekly radio address)
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3190336#3190336
3190336, AP: Bush Chides Dems on Pork in Iraq Bill (weekly radio address)
Posted by Eugene on Sat Mar-31-07 10:01 AM

Source: Associated Press

Bush Chides Dems on Pork in Iraq Bill

By JENNIFER LOVEN, Associated Press Writer

Saturday, March 31, 2007

(03-31) 07:29 PDT WASHINGTON, (AP) --

President Bush, seeking to one-up Congress' Democratic majority in a showdown
over the Iraq war, suggested Saturday that lawmakers should be ashamed that
they added non-war items to an Iraq spending bill.

"I like peanuts as much as the next guy, but I believe the security of our troops
should come before the security of our peanut crop," Bush said in his weekly radio
address, referring to a provision in the war funding legislation that earmarks $74
million for secure peanut storage.

The Senate has passed a bill calling for most U.S. combat troops to be out of Iraq
by March 31, 2008, while the House version demands a September 2008 withdrawal.
In both houses, the timelines are attached to legislation providing money to fund
military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan this year.

Bush repeated his promise to veto the bills if the timelines stay in — and if the
unrelated earmarks stay in as well — because they "undercut our troops in the field."

-snip-

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2007/03/31/national/w072952D55.DTL

[high density]

17. It is

But since when has the truth or reality got in the way of BushCo?

[ncteechur]

2. If peanuts and peanut farmers can undercut our troops, then

shouldn't Mr. Peanut be sent to Gitmo? Just asking?

[bluerum]

3. Not enough $$$ for hookers for the white house - and too much to fix

health care facilities for the VA.

[Monkeyman]

7. $3.5 Billion for Veterans Health Care is now pork hmm

[bluerum]

14. To the shrub it is. eom

[rodeodance]

5. Dem response here:

Forum Name General Discussion: Politics
Topic subject Dem response here:
Topic URL http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x3190336#3190361
3190361, Dem response here:
Posted by rodeodance on Sat Mar-31-07 10:27 AM

In the Democrats' weekly radio address, a veteran of the Iraq war asked Bush to resist the urge to veto the legislation.

"Both houses of Congress have done their jobs and will soon finish a bill that will provide for the troops," retired Marine Lt. Col. Andrew Horne said Saturday. "When they're done, the only person who could keep funds from reaching troops would be the president."

Horne, who ran unsuccessfully for a Kentucky congressional seat in 2006, added: "If the president vetoes this bill because he doesn't want to formally demonstrate progress in Iraq, never in the history of war would there be a more blatant example of a commander in chief undermining the troops. There is absolutely no excuse for the president to withhold funding for the troops, and if he does exercise a veto, Congress must side with the troops and override it."

In his radio address, Bush took aim at budget blueprints approved recently by the Democratic-controlled Congress.

[EVDebs]

8. Funny but I remember reading the DOD can't find $2.3 TRILLION

CBSNews War on Waste
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/01/29/eveningnews/main325985.shtml

""According to some estimates we cannot track $2.3 trillion in transactions," Rumsfeld admitted.

$2.3 trillion — that's $8,000 for every man, woman and child in America. To understand how the Pentagon can lose track of trillions, consider the case of one military accountant who tried to find out what happened to a mere $300 million.""

So now we know why Bushco is silencing whistleblowers...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=538636&mesg_id=546274

This subterranean funding of CIA and GOP was unsustainable even in criminal minds. Myer Lansky always counselled 'keep the skim under 15%' in order to keep from being noticed and attracting attention; the largesse just got wayyyyyy outta hand.

You can have great wealth or a democracy, but you cannot have both-- Louis Brandeis. The CIA and White House need to rethink their ideology.

[Fridays Child]

9. Yes, George, and those medically unfit troops you're sending BACK to Iraq?

I'm certain that they understand just exactly how much you value their security. You pig fucker.

[ryanmuegge]

10. Shit. This clown's party were the KINGS of pork when they were the majority.

What about the Medicare Bill? Or that Highway Bill?

[Lobster Martini]

11. Let's hop into the Wayback machine

Let's jump into the Wayback machine with Mr. Peabody and Sherman and revisit the year 2006, when Republicans held majorities in the House and Senate:

Washington, D.C. The Council for Citizens Against Government Waste (CCAGW) today criticized the Senate for voting 78-20 to pass the $109 billion Emergency Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2006 (HR 4929). President Bush requested $92.2 billion to pay for operations in Iraq and Afghanistan and hurricane aid in the Gulf Coast. The House passed a $91.9 billion bill in March and President Bush threatened to veto any bill that exceeds his request.

“Once again, the Senate demonstrates its appetite for pork,” CCAGW President Tom Schatz said. “Senators use their power to increase spending and make virtually no effort to find offsets or eliminate waste.”

Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) offered an amendment, divided into 19 sections, to strip non-emergency projects from the bill. An amendment to block the $700 million “railway to nowhere” in Mississippi failed by a vote of 47-50. An amendment to block a $500 million of corporate welfare for defense contractor Northrop Grumman failed by a vote of 48-51. The Senate also rejected Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) amendment to remove $6 million for two Hawaii sugar plantations. The only good news was that the Senate passed one Coburn amendment to remove $15 million for seafood promotion strategies.

(Link:
http://councilfor.cagw.org/site/News2?abbr=CCAGW_&page=NewsArticle&id=9832)

Don't recall the hog farmer in chief sending those pigs back to the sty.

[sallyseven]

12. So the dems should take out some of the Pork and

resubmit the bill. That should shut him up.

[still_one]

13. The pok is a straw man, however, the Democrats were stupid to NOT make the bill

as free of pork as possible. They should have just focused on the funding of the troops and setting a deadline to get out of Iraq. Now it has the potential to divert attention from what it was intended, and that is GETTING OUT OF IRAQ

This is the same crap Pelosi did by appointing William Jefferson to a committee. William Jefferson is the Congressman from LA who was alledgedly found with bribe money in his freezer. The point is not that he hasn't been found guilty, but why create a situation for yourself until Jefferson has his day in court.

Sometimes the Democrats in Congress are their own worst enemies

[w4rma]

16. No. That bill should have *more* pork. (nt)

[juno jones]

15. But there is no pork!

Just money they should be spending on citizens instead of bridges to nowhere!

[winston61]

18. This is from a president who NEVER VETOED

a spending bill and knew that the only way to keep repukes loyal was to buy them off with pork. I am going outside to vomit.

[XemaSab]

19. Iraq is a Muslim country... pork is pretty culturally insensitive

:P