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.
from the June 22, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Congress has increased this top line to $954 billion. The individual appropriations bills now working their way through the legislative process reflect this increase.
It's this top-line total that is important, insist administration officials. Bush will sign individual appropriations that are larger than he requested, as long as other such bills contain offsetting reductions.
"We're not going to try to micromanage the process," said the outgoing director of the Office of Management and Budget, Rob Portman, in a meeting with reporters June 19.
Absent such offsets, Bush will uncap his veto pen, says the White House. And officials insist the vetoes will be upheld. Some 147 House Republicans have pledged to support the White House efforts to curb spending, according to the administration. That is one more lawmaker vote than needed to sustain a veto in the House.
Democrats complain that, among other things, the White House veto threat reflects political expediency. The Bush team has suddenly got fiscal religion, critics say, after years of a relatively lax attitude toward spending.
The White House is not threatening to veto the military construction and veteran affairs appropriations bill, despite the fact that it contains extra money added by Congress for veterans' healthcare. The reason, say critics, is simple: Money for vets is very popular.
The bills that have drawn specific veto threats include the energy and water development appropriations, the foreign operations bill, and the homeland security bill, among others.
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