Senate Set to Bust Budget Caps
A new Heritage Foundation report warns the Senate may blow past the budget caps. Excerpt:
Federal spending in 2006 is set to rise 9 percent, the largest increase since 1990 and enough to earn Congress near failing grades from the Heritage Foundation’s third quarter report card.1 Most families facing steep new expenses would cut back on additional spending. However, the Senate is preparing to bust fiscal year (FY) 2007 discretionary spending caps by at least $32 billion to:
1. Reimburse the Pentagon for the $9 billion raided from its budget earlier this year and given to domestic programs, as well as fund additional defense and border security programs ($26.8 billion in total);2. Fund another massive farm subsidy bailout despite high subsidy levels and a booming farm economy ($4.2 billion); and3. Reimburse NASA for funds that lawmakers had diverted into parochial pork projects ($1.0 billion).
And in addition, lawmakers have promised $2 billion to $3 billion more for the labor, health, and education programs.
