Lawmakers Scramble to Fund Government Amid Spending Fight
Senators try to pass short-term bill after plans for long-term bill break down.
March 6, 2009— -- Lawmakers scrambled today to pass a short-term funding bill and keep government operations running after plans to pass a longer-term appropriations bill broke down late Thursday night.
The large funding bill is a $410 billion omnibus which ties together funding for most government agencies except the Defense Department and Department of Veterans Affairs for the year that is already half over. That bill has drawn fire from Republicans and Democrats who oppose the $7 billion in the bill earmarked by members of Congress specifically for their districts.
"I don't think it's unreasonable that 1 percent of the money should be congressionally directed. Otherwise it goes downtown to the bureaucrats," said Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., the chief vote counter for Democrats.
The crusade against earmarks was led by Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., who called on President Obama to veto the bill and read passages from a debate between the two men when they were vying last fall for the presidency in which Obama pledged to go "line by line" through spending bills.
McCain gave speeches on the Senate floor every day this week deriding Obama and the Democrats for rejecting the change that was promised during the campaign.
Republican Party leaders in the Senate have no problem with the earmarks, 40 percent of which were directed by Republicans. They object to the an 8 percent spending increase in the bill over previous years.
"Nobody wants an open-ended recession," said the chief Republican in the Senate, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky. "But so far the only solution to the economic crisis that Democrats in Congress are offering is open-ended spending without any end in sight. And let's be clear about something: You cannot end a recession by digging the country into deeper and deeper debt any more than you can pay off a credit card by using it more often. And you can't tax your way out of a recession."
Democrats ushered a six-month continuing resolution through Congress last year when President Bush threatened to veto this spending bill. President Obama would sign it, but first supporters need to muster 60 votes in the Senate.
Related Stories
ABC News Live