WASHINGTON – House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, on Tuesday slammed Democrats’ plans to advance the huge $463.5 billion spending measure through the House today without giving Republicans or rank-and-file Democrats a chance to offer changes.
Democrats have unveiled a massive spending bill combining the budgets of 13 Cabinet agencies with increases in aid for lower-income college students, while cutting some of President Bush’s funding requests.
Most lawmakers got their first chances to read the budget proposals Tuesday, barely a day before the House was supposed to vote it up or down.
“If we’re going to spend $463 billion of the taxpayers’ funds, we ought to have more than an hour’s worth of debate, Boehner said. “And maybe the (Democratic) majority ought to let Democrats and Republicans offer amendments.”
But Democrats such as Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey of Wisconsin had little sympathy, saying Republicans wouldn’t make tough budget choices before the election and didn’t try to clean up the mess afterward in a lame-duck session.
The bill would freeze most federal accounts at 2006 levels, though there are numerous exceptions so agencies can avoid furloughs and hiring freezes, and for a few programs favored by Democrats such as health research and education.
Any spending package adopted by the House must eventually also make it through the Senate.
The Senate on Tuesday cleared the way for an increase in the minimum wage, but only with business tax breaks that House Democrats want removed.
Final Senate passage of the legislation is expected later this week, setting the stage for a round of difficult negotiations between House and Senate Democrats over how to get the legislation to Bush for his signature.
In a key test, the Senate voted 87-10 to end debate on the bill Tuesday, well clear of the 60 votes needed.
Earlier this month, the House passed the same increase in the wage floor – from $5.15 to $7.25 an hour over two years – without any tax provisions. Senate Democrats tried to push through the House version last week, but failed to get the 60 votes to end debate.
Washington state already has the nation’s highest minimum wage, which went up to $7.94 per hour on Jan. 1 from $7.63.
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