2005-02-14 Regular Meeting and Public Hearing Meeting of the La Porte City Council minutes

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- House passes $ 388B spending bill. WASHINGTON: "W'" . 11 ,0 CI. Legtslanon rerns rn - domestic programs The Associated Press Republicans' whisked a $388 billion spending bill through the House on Sat- - urday, a mammoth measure that underscores the domi- nance of deficit politics by ,- curbing dollars for every- thing from education to en- vironmental cleanups. Lawmakers approved the - measure by a bipartisan.344- 51 margin as they worked over the weekend during _ their postelection session. Though not in doubt, pas- sage was taking longer in the Senate. Senators who - support abortion rights op- posed a plan that would make it easier for health care providers to decline to - provide abortions or offer counseling and referrals. From its tight domestic _ spending to the. Democratic- backed ptovisionson over- time and other issues that were dropped, the bill is a -monument to the GOP's raw power in controlling the White House and Congress. The measure itself is an - imposing monument: the bill and an explanatory report, completed near midnight -Friday, were about 14 inches tall, leaving many law- makers baffled about its pre- cise contents. - Even President Bush's ini- tiatives were not immune to cuts as the bill's GOP chief _authqrs heeded his demands to control spending. Gone was his request for development of new nuclear weapons. His budget for the Ameri- Corps vol- unteer program was sliced by 12 per- cent. The $2.5 billion he wanted.t6 aid countries adopting democratic prac- tices was reduced by $1 bil- lion. . "I'm very proud of the fact that we held the line and made Congress make choices and set priorities, because it follows our phi~ losophy," said House Ma- jority Leader 'Ibm DeLay, R- 'Iexas, during House debate. Passage would crown the lame-duck session of Con- gress, which began Tuesday, and send lawmakers home until January. They also were hoping to pass a com- promise bill reorganizing U.S. intelligence agencies. Also enacted during the postelection session was an $800 billion increase in the government's borrowing limit. The measure was yet another testament to record annual deficits, which reached $413 billion last year and are expected to climb indefinitely. While the spending bill was one of the most austere in years, it had something for everybody, including thousands of home-district projects worth several bil- lion dollars: It $335,000 to protect sun- flowers in North Dakota from blackbird damage. · $60 million for a new courthouse in Las Cruces, N.M. Tom Delay · $225,000 t.o study cat- fish genomes at Alabama's Auburn UniverMity. · a potential present for Bush himself, $2 million for the government to buy back the presidential yacht Se- quoia. The boat was sold three decades ago. Despite complaints the bill was too stingy,' most De- mocrats supported it. They helped write it and included many projects for them- selves. They knew that the alternative - holding spending to last year's levels ~ would be $4 billion tighter. "It is totally inadequate to meet the nation's needs in education, . health care and . the environment," said Rep. David Obey; D-Wis. "It falls so far from meeting our in- vestment obligations for the future that it could only be brought to the floor by the majority party after the election; ,~ The measure was a com- pendium of niIiebillsthat Republicans found. too.' con- tentiousto. complete before the Nov. 2 elections. The leg- islation covers al:tnost every domestic agency and de- partment, plus foreign aid. The FBI, the Securities and Exchange Commission arid NASA got healthy in- creases. But education grew by less than 2 percent. The Environmental Protection Agency grew by 3.5 percent. Overall, the:irin.ebills the measure combmed,:wcre just 2 percent larger than last year's versions. ~'foreign aid alfd defense 8pe6,ding are omitted, the remaining do- mestic progranisgrew by arourid 1 percent...: . Sunday November 21, 2004 Vol. 162, No. 225 ..h.. ~_ ill!. :JU ~ ... www:gaivnews,com