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President Bush Tuesday vetoed the Labor, Health and Human Services and Education appropriations bill in a move that is likely to escalate the ongoing battle between the White House and Congress over government funding. “The bill is nearly $10 billion over the president's request, and is filled with 2,000 earmarks,” White House spokeswoman Dana Perino told reporters aboard Air Force One. She added that Bush would urge Congress in a speech later Tuesday to “take out the pork and reduce the overall spending level and return it to him quickly.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) was quick to condemn the veto. “The President again vetoed a bipartisan and fiscally responsible bill that addresses the priorities of the American people: education for our children, assistance in paying skyrocketing energy costs, veterans’ health care, and other urgent health research on cancer and other serious medical problems,” she said. The president did sign the Department of Defense (DoD) funding measure, even though he objected to some of the items that were included in the bill. The DoD appropriations language includes some “unnecessary spending,” according to Perino, but the president thought it was “essential to deliver these funds to our military during a time of war.” The Labor/HHS/Education spending bill contains countless programs of special importance to the Democratic base, just as the bill is seen by many conservatives as Exhibit A in the case against wasteful government spending. Highlight the importance of these programs to liberal voters, an activist group lashed out immediately against the veto, directing their ire at House Republican lawmakers who voted against the spending bill. Americans United for Change will air radio advertisements on Wednesday aimed at 10 House Republicans: Reps. Robert Aderholt (Ala.), Rodney Alexander (La.), Michelle Bachmann (Minn.), John Boozman (Ark.), Ginny Brown-Waite (Fla.), Steve Chabot (Ohio), Tom Cole (Okla.), Virgil Goode (Va.) Chip Pickering (Miss.) and Bill Sali (Idaho). The ads reach beyond the spending bill veto to hit these Republicans for their positions on other core Democratic issues, including the Iraq war, healthcare for veterans and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program. “Congress is preparing to vote to override Bush’s vetoes of these healthcare measures – giving Congressman (woman) [NAME] one more chance to decide – does she/he stand with us or Bush,” the ad copy reads. |
