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 3 of 3
Democrats argue that their additions to this year's money bills are minor. They've simply added back cuts in past years from such programs as Head Start, they say.
In addition, if you subtract defense, discretionary spending has been fairly flat in recent years, according to a Center for Budget and Policy Priorities analysis.
Then there's the question of who wins the veto stare-down.
It's true that 147 House Republicans pledged to stand behind Bush for fiscal solidarity, says Stan Collender, a federal budget expert at Qorvis Communications. And fiscal conservatives are yearning for the administration to be more tight-fisted, following such past actions as Bush's push for an pricey prescription-drug benefit.
But a general pledge is not the same thing as voting to uphold the president's veto of the homeland security bill. "I find it hard to see how a president with approval ratings as low as his is going to get a lot of support for vetoing bills that are important to people," says Mr. Collender.
With the end of his presidency in sight, Bush may be trying to reestablish a legacy as a fiscal conservative. But most members of Congress face reelection fights.
"The president and congressional Republicans have very different agendas," says Collender.
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