Bush's veto threats foretell budget battle

The president is warning against 'excessive' spending, as Democrats seek to add $22 billion to his budget request.

By Peter Grier | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor

from the June 22, 2007 edition

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Washington - If you hear the click of a ballpoint pen and then a scratching noise coming from the White House this summer, it could be the sound of President Bush vetoing money bills passed by the Democratic-controlled Congress.

The federal appropriations process is seldom smooth, even in the best of years. But with bluster rising on both sides, it appears that the White House and Congress are headed for a struggle over the budget that's bitter even by Washington standards.

To the administration, the fight is about fiscal restraint. The House and Senate have added about $22 billion to the president's fiscal 2008 discretionary spending budget, officials say.

"I put Democratic leaders on notice that I will veto bills with excessive levels of spending," said Mr. Bush in a June 16 radio address. Democrats say that for the most part the extra money just restores cuts made in previous years – and that in any case it is a pittance compared to what is being spent in Iraq.

"We will not be lectured on fiscal responsibility by a Republican party that has driven us into record deficits and added more than $3 trillion to the national debt," said House majority leader Steny Hoyer (D) of Maryland at a June 15 press conference.

Discretionary spending is the part of the federal budget that in theory can be easily changed every year in the congressional appropriations process. It includes the normal operations of most government agencies. It does not include Social Security and other big entitlement programs that dole out money on a semiautomatic basis.

The budget Bush submitted to Congress earlier this year included about $932 billion in discretionary spending. By administration calculations, that figure represents an increase of 6.9 percent – almost triple the rate of inflation.

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