Perchoutofwater Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Democrats add teacher money to war funding billAP By ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press Writer Andrew Taylor, Associated Press Writer – Wed Jun 30, 1:12 am ET WASHINGTON – House Democrats, who are trying to pass a long-stalled war funding bill this week, have attached $10 billion to help local school districts avoid teacher layoffs when schools reopen. The approximately $70 billion measure is anchored by President Barack Obama's $30 billion request for the troop surge in Afghanistan and contains money for disaster aid accounts, foreign aid and disability benefits for Vietnam veterans exposed to Agent Orange. The bill's release late Tuesday night was the surest signal yet that House leaders are committed to passing it this week, despite great resistance among many Democratic lawmakers and deepening anxiety over the Afghanistan war effort among Obama allies such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. The Senate passed an almost $60 billion version of the bill last month. Successful action by the House would send the measure into negotiations aimed at producing a final measure next month for Obama's signature. The difficulty in passing the bill in the House is magnified by disagreement between Republicans supportive of the war — who insist the measure be "clean" of unrelated spending — and Democrats who want funding for the unpopular war to carry unrelated party priorities. Republicans are threatening to withhold support for the overall package if Democratic add-ons are included. Democrats such as Appropriations Committee David Obey of Wisconsin, who's deeply skeptical of the Afghanistan effort, are insisting the measure carry billions of dollars in funding to help revenue-starved school boards avoid teacher layoffs. A $23 billion, debt-financed plan has been scrapped over deficit concerns, but has been replaced with a $10 billion "education jobs fund" financed by multiple cuts from prior spending bills, including last year's stimulus bill. There's also more than $500 million in new money to hire more border patrol agents and pay for other security initiatives along the U.S.-Mexico border — though $200 million in previously appropriated money for a border fence, popular with Republicans, would be rescinded. And there's $18 billion in new Energy Department loan guarantees, to be evenly split between nuclear and renewable energy projects. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has been agitating for the war money, requested in February, but the real deadline for Congress isn't until the August recess. Part of the delay has been over finding offsetting budget cuts to finance the teacher jobs initiative. The sometimes combative Obey has been wrestling with the White House budget office over the cuts. The package unveiled Tuesday includes unspent defense funds, as well as money cut from community development and rural Internet projects. Link This really isn't a partisan rant, as both sides do this crap and it drives me nuts. If something else deserves to be funded, then write a bill to fund it and have a vote on it. It just pisses me off when congressmen add crap to bills because they know the larger portion of the bill needs to be passed and anyone that votes against it is viewed as being unpatriotic. If you stand on principle and vote against this based on the unrelated funding you will get skewered come reelection time. This is how we get these dumb ass arguments about I voted for it before I voted against it. I really wish someone would suggest a constitutional amendment to do away with earmarks. If something isn't deserving enough to stand on it's own merits, then we don't need to be spending our money on it. I don't necessarily have a problem with additional funding for schools particularly when the inept government forces so many schools to have ESL classes because they won't protect the f'n border. Obviously I'm for more funding of border security. I'm just not for it being piled onto another bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kid Cid Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 One of your best rants in years perch, I agree wholeheartedly. It is just another way to maneuver politics into what should be a straight forward discussion as to whether to fund something or not. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Line Item veto anyone? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmarc117 Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 its like sticking your dog's meds into the middle of a piece of meat. ur dog aint gonna say no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonkis Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 Stealth law... wait until the 1099 law from the health care bill hits. Horrible. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perchoutofwater Posted June 30, 2010 Author Share Posted June 30, 2010 Line Item veto anyone? What good does that do if the president doesn't care about the will of the people? Again I'm not just talking about Obama here, but any president. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DMD Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 If I owned a restuarant and a senator came in and ordered a meal, I would just add on an oil change to my car and a few pay per view movie charges to his bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ursa Majoris Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 One of your best rants in years perch, I agree wholeheartedly. It is just another way to maneuver politics into what should be a straight forward discussion as to whether to fund something or not. No argument from me. I think they justify this by saying there simply isn't enough time to have separate bills for everything, to which most of us would say "Good". If I owned a restuarant and a senator came in and ordered a meal, I would just add on an oil change to my car and a few pay per view movie charges to his bill. Don't you do that with memberships? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duchess Jack Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 wurd. no arguments here Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Delicious_bass Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 If I owned a restuarant and a senator came in and ordered a meal, I would just add on an oil change to my car and a few pay per view movie charges to his bill. Yeah, but the senator is just going to expense it and/or take it out of his per diem... What I'd do is approach his table, tell him I have the finest cut of meat (aged perfectly) and I'm going to cook it up just how he likes it. He nods and says "Sounds Good". Then I actually bring him out a cheap old piece of beef that is tougher than shoe leather and spiked with Ex Lax... Enjoy your meal, Senator! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bushwacked Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 What good does that do if the president doesn't care about the will of the people? Again I'm not just talking about Obama here, but any president. Not a total solution, but many of the time the executive veto power would be at odds with the congressional addendum. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaterMan Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 I'm with you Perch. When's enough going to be enough? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeeR Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 "Don't be so negative blah blah blah" /huddle trolls Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tazinib1 Posted June 30, 2010 Share Posted June 30, 2010 If I owned a restuarant and a senator came in and ordered a meal, I would just add on an oil change to my car and a few pay per view movie charges to his bill. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WaterMan Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Custard man wasn't offended by it and called it a joke. Just look how upset he looks in this video. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gdwUq_JLg18 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimmy Neutron Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 No argument from me. I think they justify this by saying there simply isn't enough time to have separate bills for everything, to which most of us would say "Good". Exactly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rattsass Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Exactly. If we required a full reading and comprehension of these 2000 page bills these lobbyists cook up, that might alleviate the situation. Or at least slow down the pace of the destruction. They can't possibly comprehend all the provisions when they are passing these monstrosities. And that is pretty damn scary if you ask me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perchoutofwater Posted July 1, 2010 Author Share Posted July 1, 2010 No argument from me. I think they justify this by saying there simply isn't enough time to have separate bills for everything, to which most of us would say "Good". If congress doesn't have time to vote on it, that may be a sign that the government has gotten way too big. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perchoutofwater Posted July 1, 2010 Author Share Posted July 1, 2010 If we required a full reading and comprehension of these 2000 page bills these lobbyists cook up, that might alleviate the situation. Or at least slow down the pace of the destruction. They can't possibly comprehend all the provisions when they are passing these monstrosities. And that is pretty damn scary if you ask me. This is one of your better posts. It really bothers me that these bills they are passing are so big that nobody really knows what all is in them, yet we are supposed to be able to abide by them. Just like our tax code, we need to simplify most of our laws, and write them in a way that the average person and small business owner doesn't need to hire professionals to keep them on the right side of the ever changing laws. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bpwallace49 Posted July 1, 2010 Share Posted July 1, 2010 Link This really isn't a partisan rant, as both sides do this crap and it drives me nuts. If something else deserves to be funded, then write a bill to fund it and have a vote on it. It just pisses me off when congressmen add crap to bills because they know the larger portion of the bill needs to be passed and anyone that votes against it is viewed as being unpatriotic. If you stand on principle and vote against this based on the unrelated funding you will get skewered come reelection time. This is how we get these dumb ass arguments about I voted for it before I voted against it. I really wish someone would suggest a constitutional amendment to do away with earmarks. If something isn't deserving enough to stand on it's own merits, then we don't need to be spending our money on it. I don't necessarily have a problem with additional funding for schools particularly when the inept government forces so many schools to have ESL classes because they won't protect the f'n border. Obviously I'm for more funding of border security. I'm just not for it being piled onto another bill. Completely agree. Keep in mind that if some of these departments in charge of these items were in any way competent, they would have assisted in helping create some of these bills with COngressional co-sponsors individually so that they COULD be passed in a timely fashion. that way items that are not overly contentious get passes quickly,and time is saved to debate the difficult choices. Politics is an ugly, ugly business . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scooby's Hubby Posted July 2, 2010 Share Posted July 2, 2010 politics is such a turn off, why can't we get congressmen who just want to do the right thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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