Bush: "Only in Washington can $22 billion be called a very small difference"

[sabra]

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2007/08/20070802-2.html

President Bush Offers Sympathies and Assistance to Minneapolis and Calls on Congress to Act Before Recess
Rose Garden


THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. I just finished a Cabinet meeting. One of the things we discussed was the terrible situation there in Minneapolis. We talked about the fact that the bridge collapsed, and that we in the federal government must respond and respond robustly to help the people there not only recover, but to make sure that lifeline of activity, that bridge, gets rebuilt as quickly as possible.

...

We also talked about -- in the Cabinet meeting talked about the status of important pieces of legislation before the Congress. We spent a fair amount of time talking about the fact that how disappointed we are that Congress hasn't sent any spending bills to my desk. By the end of this week, members are going to be leaving for their month-long August recess. And by the time they will return, there will be less than a month before the end of the fiscal year on September the 30th, and yet they haven't passed one of the 12 spending bills that they're required to pass. If Congress doesn't pass the spending bills by the end of the fiscal year, Cabinet Secretaries report that their departments may be unable to move forward with urgent priorities for our country.

This doesn't have to be this way. The Democrats won last year's election fair and square, and now they control the calendar for bringing up bills in Congress. They need to pass each of these spending bills individually, on time, and in a fiscally responsible way.

...

Unfortunately, Democratic leaders in Congress want to spend far more. Their budget calls for nearly $22 billion more in discretionary spending next year alone. These leaders have tried to downplay that figure. Yesterday one called this increase -- and I quote -- "a very small difference" from what I proposed. Only in Washington can $22 billion be called a very small difference. And that difference will keep getting bigger. Over the next five years it will total nearly $205 billion in additional discretionary spending. That $205 billion averages out to about $112 million per day, $4.7 million per hour, $78,000 per minute.

Put another way, that's about $1,300 in higher spending every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every year for the next five years. That's a lot of money -- even for career politicians in Washington. In fact, at that pace, Democrats in Congress would have spent an extra $300,000 since I began these remarks.

:crazy:

[OwnedByFerrets]

1. And how much has been spent

on your ILLEGAL WAR since you began your bumbling speech you MF?? Go back inside your "beautiful white house" and STFU!!!!!!!!!!:mad: :mad: :mad:

[sinkingfeeling]

2. And, Mr. Bush, what does your quest for world empire cost us every second of every day?

[dsa]

3. "A billion here, a billion there, ...

... sooner or later it adds up to real money."

- Everett Dirksen

[Nite Owl]

4. Funny how they can do the math

when it comes to spending on US and their illegal war expenditures they refuse to acknowledge. This is really a values issue and the lives of the American people are not valued at all.

[zbdent]

5. Only in comparison to nearly $400 Billion could $22 billion be considered

a very small difference ...