Appropriations

There are times that George W. Bush's audacity on budget matters is truly breathtaking.

The president last week said that Congress hadn't done enough to slow the growth of earmarks and had directed OMB Director Jim Nussle to consider ways not to spend the designated funds.

My column on nationaljournal.com this week deals with the continuing refusal of the Bush administration to work with Congress on appropriations, or much of anything else. The reason: "winning" rather than "governing' is what's important to this White House.

Peter Baker of The Washington Post had a good story today about the latest battle in the appropriations war between the Bush White House and Democratic Congress. The story talks about some of the parallels between the current situation and the standoff in 1995 that led to a government shutdown.

 

Here's my column from yesterday's nationaljournal.com.

Yesterday’s press event at the White House, where President Bush screamed at Congress for not yet passing any of the fiscal 2008 appropriations bills reminded me of the 1966 football game between Michigan State and Notre Dame.

I have vivid memories of that game. What I remember most is that, with the game tied 10-10, Notre Dame ran out the clock while the Michigan State players screamed at them to run a play and taunted them for not doing so.