Today in Washington D. C. - March 3, 2009
From Senate Sources: The Senate resumed consideration of H.R. 1105, the fiscal year 2009 omnibus appropriations bill. The $410 billion bill combines the 9 unpassed appropriations bills from last year and funds the federal government through September. A continuing resolution passed last fall expires Friday. The Senate will vote on a substitute amendment from Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) which would replace the bill with a continuing resolution funding the government at last year’s levels until October, essentially a spending freeze. More votes are expected later in the day.
More of the problems of Washington Democrats’ spending spree are becoming clearer as the Senate begins voting on amendments to the $410 billion omnibus spending bill today.
The most immediate is an issue that Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell identified yesterday: the bill includes double-dip spending provisions. Accounts and programs that will receive billions from the recently-passed $787 billion stimulus bill are set to receive billions more in funding from the omnibus bill. In fact, 122 accounts funded in the stimulus are set to get more funding in the omnibus. For instance, the stimulus provides $1 billion for ACORN-eligible block grants, and the omnibus gives an additional $3.9 billion to the very same account. Other double-dip spending includes hundreds of millions for arts endowments, the census, fish and wildlife resource management, and the National Institute for Standards and Technology.
Sen. McConnell said last week, “Back in January, I suggested to the Democratic leadership that we take up the omnibus appropriation bill first. And I did that because I wanted to make sure that we were not engaged in duplicate spending when we finally went to the stimulus.” It’s now March, and sure enough there is a bill on the floor of the Senate with duplicate spending for 122 federal accounts.
Meanwhile, other issues with the Democrats’ spending plans are (believe it or not) being explored by the press today. President Obama said in his address to Congress last week, “Over the next two years, this plan [the stimulus bill] will save or create 3.5 million jobs. More than 90% of these jobs will be in the private sector . . . .” Today, though, The Washington Post reports, “President Obama's budget is so ambitious, with vast new spending on health care, energy independence, education and services for veterans, that experts say he probably will need to hire tens of thousands of new federal government workers to realize his goals.” Indeed, The Post notes that estimates of the number of government employees that would need to be added range from 100,000 to a quarter of a million. According to The Post, “If the outside estimates are realized, Obama could spur a government hiring spree on a scale unseen since President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society agenda in the 1960s.”
Sen. McConnell emphasized the big picture in this morning: “What all this means is that at a time when most Americans are tightening their belts, Washington is going out and buying a bigger one. . . . [C]onsider some of the recent spending we’ve done or are contemplating doing around here: Some of us are still dizzy from the $1 trillion Stimulus. We’re trying to conceptualize the $3.6 trillion budget the President sent us last week. We’re bracing for the potentially quarter trillion Housing plan that goes into effect tomorrow. And we’re thinking about the $1 to $2 trillion we expect to be asked to spend on the financial sector.”
Given the unprecedented amount of spending being contemplated here, would it not be prudent to slow down a bit and more closely scrutinize some of it? Taking a second look at spending double-dips would be a good place to start.
Tags: federal spending, omnibus bill, US Congress, US Senate, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
More of the problems of Washington Democrats’ spending spree are becoming clearer as the Senate begins voting on amendments to the $410 billion omnibus spending bill today.
The most immediate is an issue that Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell identified yesterday: the bill includes double-dip spending provisions. Accounts and programs that will receive billions from the recently-passed $787 billion stimulus bill are set to receive billions more in funding from the omnibus bill. In fact, 122 accounts funded in the stimulus are set to get more funding in the omnibus. For instance, the stimulus provides $1 billion for ACORN-eligible block grants, and the omnibus gives an additional $3.9 billion to the very same account. Other double-dip spending includes hundreds of millions for arts endowments, the census, fish and wildlife resource management, and the National Institute for Standards and Technology.
Sen. McConnell said last week, “Back in January, I suggested to the Democratic leadership that we take up the omnibus appropriation bill first. And I did that because I wanted to make sure that we were not engaged in duplicate spending when we finally went to the stimulus.” It’s now March, and sure enough there is a bill on the floor of the Senate with duplicate spending for 122 federal accounts.
Meanwhile, other issues with the Democrats’ spending plans are (believe it or not) being explored by the press today. President Obama said in his address to Congress last week, “Over the next two years, this plan [the stimulus bill] will save or create 3.5 million jobs. More than 90% of these jobs will be in the private sector . . . .” Today, though, The Washington Post reports, “President Obama's budget is so ambitious, with vast new spending on health care, energy independence, education and services for veterans, that experts say he probably will need to hire tens of thousands of new federal government workers to realize his goals.” Indeed, The Post notes that estimates of the number of government employees that would need to be added range from 100,000 to a quarter of a million. According to The Post, “If the outside estimates are realized, Obama could spur a government hiring spree on a scale unseen since President Lyndon B. Johnson's Great Society agenda in the 1960s.”
Sen. McConnell emphasized the big picture in this morning: “What all this means is that at a time when most Americans are tightening their belts, Washington is going out and buying a bigger one. . . . [C]onsider some of the recent spending we’ve done or are contemplating doing around here: Some of us are still dizzy from the $1 trillion Stimulus. We’re trying to conceptualize the $3.6 trillion budget the President sent us last week. We’re bracing for the potentially quarter trillion Housing plan that goes into effect tomorrow. And we’re thinking about the $1 to $2 trillion we expect to be asked to spend on the financial sector.”
Given the unprecedented amount of spending being contemplated here, would it not be prudent to slow down a bit and more closely scrutinize some of it? Taking a second look at spending double-dips would be a good place to start.
Tags: federal spending, omnibus bill, US Congress, US Senate, Washington D.C. To share or post to your site, click on "Post Link". Please mention / link to the ARRA News Service. Thanks!
Posted by Bill Smith at 11:00 AM - Post Link
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