House Passes $463.5 billion spending bill
How’s this for fiscal responsibility?
The 286-140 vote — with 57 Republicans voting in favor — was a pleasant surprise for Democrats who expected far less GOP support. The $463.5 billion spending bill had much to please the rank and file, including Republican moderates, even though it contained no pet projects for their districts. “The content is a heck of a lot better than most expected we’d come up with,” said the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. David Obey, D-Wis. He worked with his Senate counterpart, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., to add money for initiatives popular with both Democrats and Republicans.
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They were especially pleased with a $260 boost, to $4,310, in the maximum Pell Grant for low-income college students, and with a 40 percent increase, to $4.5 billion, for fighting AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis overseas.
And here I thought they would attempt to balance the budget given all the pre-election rhetoric about “record deficits” and such.
And I’m real happy more federal tax dollars are going to help “the children” extend their adolescence for 5 years after high-school (do people even realize that about 51% of college students graduate within five years of initial enrollment, and most others don’t graduate?). Lovely.
Powerline points out some of the earmarks.
— The Ace