GOP Seeks to Loosen Deficit-Control Bill

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5385090,00.html

WASHINGTON (AP) - No sooner did a $39 billion budget-cut bill come to the Senate floor than GOP leaders moved to spend almost $7 billion of the savings on other purposes such as combating bird flu.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., is a top sponsor of the plan, which would direct $2.8 billion to developing medicines and vaccines to combat the flu. The rest would be earmarked to otherwise prepare for a potential pandemic.

The money is available because congressional budget scorekeepers credited the overall bill as producing more savings than originally anticipated. The move by Frist and Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg, R-N.H., is also aimed at freezing out Democrats who might seek to claim the extra money for other purposes such as hurricane relief.

Still, the $4 billion to fight avian flu demonstrates the pressure for additional federal spending, even as the budget cut bill is debated. And the contents of the core bill also shows the continued appetite for spending, since it blends $32 billion in new spending with $71 billion in spending cuts over five years.

Not to be outdone, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chairman Mike Enzi, R-Wyo., moved in with a $2.7 billion plan to lower student loan processing fees and provide aid to students and schools in the hurricane zone. Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts joined Enzi in offering the plan.

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Senator Spiral Hawk (I - Ethereal Realms) proposed that $100 million should be expended getting to the truth of how the BushCo-Republican axis screwed up and left the nation defenseless on 9/11.

"Congress spent that much investigating Bill Clinton's blow job. They can spend at least that much digging into 9/11. Oh, and by the way for my esteemed Senatorial colleagues who need a clue: MIHOP." - Senator SpiralHawk

How they decry "tax and spend" liberals !

Guess what dimwit Americans? - It's called paying the bills!

The "party of responsibility" strikes again and seeks to further spend the Nation into the abyss.