Gimme Some Money (George Bush remix)

Steny Hoyer can't even seem to get capitulation right. He has no idea who he's dealing with.

The White House on Saturday threatened to veto a massive spending bill being assembled by congressional Democrats, saying it's unacceptable to add billions of dollars to domestic programs.

The White House has not seen details of the $500 billion-plus measure — which senior Democrats are constructing behind closed doors — but reacted to it based on media accounts.

The bill contains $11 billion above President Bush's February budget, awarding the money to domestic programs such as education and health research. It also may contain several billion dollars in "emergency" funding for border security, foreign aid, drought relief and a food program for women and children.

Somehow Bush isn't troubled by the nearly $1 trillion dollars poured into Iraq and Afghanistan, it's those damn women and children getting food that honks him off.

The Democrats give Bush practically everything he wants and all he does is ask for more.

The only good news here is that David Obey appears to have had enough.

Efforts to pass a massive compromise federal spending bill stalled Monday as a top House Democrat threatened to abandon the measure, accusing the White House and congressional Republicans of failing to bargain in good faith.

House Appropriations Committee Chairman David Obey, D-Wis., had been working with moderate Republicans to try to generate momentum for a catchall spending bill that split the differences between increases sought by Democrats and the strict budget submitted by President Bush in February.

But after a White House veto threat over the weekend, a frustrated Obey said he would rip up the compromise bill and devise a new one using the strict spending ceiling set by Bush — but would reach it by whacking GOP priorities and stripping the measure of billions of dollars in pet projects for lawmakers in both parties [...]

"Short of having somebody in authority sit down and say, 'OK, we will work out a reasonable compromise,' I don't see any point in prolonging the agony," Obey said. "I don't see how we have any choice but to go to the president's numbers on appropriations to make clear that we aren't going to link the war with token funding on the domestic side."

He's JUST now figuring out that Republicans negotiate in bad faith? Oh well. Better late than never. As long as the Iraq debacle isn't tied to omnibus spending, I'm OK with it. And I've got a few ideas on where he can start with cutting spending. First, eliminate abstinence-only education. Then cut out the Vice President's office, he's not in the executive branch so he doesn't need it. Finally, get rid of every penny of Steny Hoyer's copious earmarks. Serves him right.