Huge spending bill blocked in Senate

[dusty64]

This bill is a toilet bowl into which the rethugs have thrown all of their bad ideas. It is disturbing that our Democratic "leadership" once again is unable/unwilling to stop this. All it would take is for them to unite and inform the People of what is in this bill. Why won't they?





Democrats angry over several issues in omnibus measure
By Ted Barrett
CNN Washington Bureau
Wednesday, January 21, 2004 Posted: 7:55 AM EST (1255 GMT)




WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Democrats and a handful of Republicans blocked a giant spending bill Tuesday, but Senate leaders from both parties said they expect the legislation to pass by week's end.

Democrats are angry over provisions related to food labeling, overtime pay, media ownership rules and other issues, and some fiscal conservatives are upset with the bill's cost.

With a vote of 48-45, Republicans fell short in their attempt to end a Democratic-led filibuster of the $820 billion bill.

It was the first vote of the new year and came hours before President Bush was scheduled to go to Capitol Hill to deliver his State of the Union address.

With billions of dollars in spending increases at stake for politically popular programs ranging from veterans health care to HIV/AIDS care in Africa, Republican leaders said they were confident many Democrats would eventually support passage even if a handful of rank-and-file Republicans held out against it.

"We're not going to remove anything," Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania, a Republican leader, said about the contentious policy provisions. "We're not changing this bill, period."
http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/01/20/senate.spending/index.html

[dusty64]

1. Oh wait, the Dems have already

surrendered. WTF! Score another for the extreme rightwing agenda.


Senate Dems Abandon Effort to Block Bill


Jan 21
By ALAN FRAM




WASHINGON (AP) - Senate Democrats are abandoning their effort to block a delinquent $373 billion bill that would finance much of the government, but the two parties are still using the measure to hit each other over spending, overtime pay and other issues.

The Senate voted 48-45 Tuesday to continue Democratic delays that have bogged the bill down since December, 12 votes shy of the 60 needed to end the slowdown. The bill would finance biomedical research, job training and most other domestic programs for the federal budget year that started Oct. 1.

Before the vote, Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said he believed the legislation would pass by next week regardless of whether Republicans dealt with Democratic complaints. The Democratic leader's assessment came after Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., reiterated that the GOP would not bow to Democratic demands for changes.

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20040121/D8073JQO0.html

[dusty64]

2. There is a reason this was

done yesterday in the hopes the crappy state of disunion would bump it from the headlines. It worked, not a mention in my local rag. Here is the vote for the record, it was buried in the Senate website. Miller is no surprise, why did Murray and Hollings vote for this?



YEAs ---48
Alexander (R-TN)
Allard (R-CO)
Allen (R-VA)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burns (R-MT)
Chafee (R-RI)
Cochran (R-MS)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeWine (R-OH)
Dole (R-NC)
Domenici (R-NM)
Enzi (R-WY)
Fitzgerald (R-IL)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hollings (D-SC)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inhofe (R-OK)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lott (R-MS)
Lugar (R-IN)
McConnell (R-KY)
Miller (D-GA)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Nickles (R-OK)
Roberts (R-KS)
Santorum (R-PA)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-OR)
Specter (R-PA)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Talent (R-MO)
Thomas (R-WY)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)

[dusty64]

3. Four surprising repub defections

and seven not voting. I know one just got out of the hospital, glad to see our Presidential candidates could take time out of their busy schedules to vote on this VERY important bill (sarcasm).



NAYs ---45
Akaka (D-HI)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Breaux (D-LA)
Byrd (D-WV)
Campbell (R-CO)
Cantwell (D-WA)
Carper (D-DE)
Clinton (D-NY)
Conrad (D-ND)
Corzine (D-NJ)
Daschle (D-SD)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Ensign (R-NV)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Frist (R-TN)
Graham (D-FL)
Harkin (D-IA)
Jeffords (I-VT)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lincoln (D-AR)
McCain (R-AZ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Nelson (D-FL)
Nelson (D-NE)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Sarbanes (D-MD)
Schumer (D-NY)
Snowe (R-ME)
Stabenow (D-MI)
Wyden (D-OR)

Not Voting - 7
Baucus (D-MT)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Dayton (D-MN)
Edwards (D-NC)
Inouye (D-HI)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lieberman (D-CT)

[Corgigal]

4. Hmmmmm

Not Voting - 7
Baucus (D-MT)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Dayton (D-MN)
Edwards (D-NC)
Inouye (D-HI)
Kerry (D-MA)
Lieberman (D-CT)



Let me guess they didn't vote NO because then they can make it a campaign issue. I hope the families that have to eat dog food remember that. The same stupid thinking when it came to the IRAQ war.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

7. Argh

:grr:

[Tansy_Gold]

8. Dog food is too expensive

What you'll see -- and I mean this in all seriousness -- is poor people who will spend their food stamps (at least until THAT program is done away with) on canned tuna for their cats and cheap cuts of beef for their dogs. They themselves will live on generic cold cereal. They will do without prescription medications or cut their dosages in half, but they will make sure their pets are taken care of. Of course, when the owners die because they freeze to death after the gas has been turned off or they have a stroke because they ran out of blood pressure medicine, the pets starve to death or try to survive by eating the body of the owner.

This is not, of course, all poor people. But it is, I think, an indictment of our system that we do not take care of our own. We only take care of our masters -- the filthy rich who oppress us.


Tansy Gold, becoming more radical every day.

[Gman]

5. Frist voted No? And Santorum says

"We're not going to remove anything."

Looks like the tail is wagging the dog here.

[flaminbats]

6. More evidence that Daschle is a loser...

After blocking this legislation, he should use this victory to rally our party for the next battle...not pledge to play footsie with Shrub!

He said Democrats are angry that the House-passed measure omits new restrictions on concentrated ownership of the broadcast media, allows the administration to restrict overtime protection for workers, and delays for two years a requirement that country of origin be included on labels on meat and other food products.

"Our desire isn't to kill this bill," Daschle said after Democrats counted noses and discussed strategy in a closed-door party caucus. "If choose not to fix it, we will look for other opportunities, we will bring them back again and again and again."

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/news/0104/21congress.html

[denverbill]

9. Where's Kerry? Where's Edwards? Where's Lieberman?

You blowhards want to win my vote, then get off your campaign trailing asses, get back to Washington, and stop this fucking thing.

If you can't stop it, you don't deserve my vote.