November 13, 2007

Bush Vetoes Spending Bill for Student Aid and NIH

As he had promised, President Bush vetoed today a bill to finance student aid and biomedical research in 2008. That sets the stage for Congress to attempt to override the veto this week, although the Democratic leadership faces a tough road to secure enough votes.

The bill, HR 3043, would result in a maximum Pell Grant award of $4,925 and would raise the National Institutes of Health’s budget by $1-billion, to $30-billion.

Both chambers of Congress approved the most recent version of the bill by margins that fell short of the two-thirds majority necessary for an override. Democrats will now be working to change the minds of moderate Republicans. President Bush and the Republican minority in Congress have described the bill as being full of earmarks and wasteful spending.

If an override attempt fails this week, Congress is expected to adjourn next week for Thanksgiving and rework the bill later this month or in December. The 2008 fiscal year began in October, but lawmakers approved a measure extending money for all federal programs at 2007 levels through mid-December.

“By vetoing the bill, the president is turning his back on the priorities of America’s families –- their hopes, their dreams, their opportunities,” said U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, a Massachusetts Democrat, today on the Senate floor. —Jeffrey Brainard

Comments

1. Unfortunately Mr. Novak (conveniently) overlooks that fact that members of both parties readily take advantage of this “budget ploy”. I noticed that in the Chronicle’s own listing of higher education earmarks (“Top 10 Recipients of Academic Earmarks in the Pending 2008 Appropriations Bill for Labor, Health, and Education”), Republican lawmakers accounted for over half of the earmarks (including the 3 most expensive). I realize President Bush is new to the veto concept due to the change in control of Congress, but in the meantime our students and their familes continue to get caught in the middle of election year politics.

   — S. Schuetz    Nov 13, 05:01 PM    #

2. What was Bush vetoing? Here are some of the non-educationhighlights:
   —Requires the Secretary of Labor to issue a full monthly transit subsidy of at least $110 to each of its employees in the National Capital Region beginning September 30, 2007 [Title I (sec. 103)].
   —Authorizes up to $20 million in grants to states to address the gap in health care coverage faced by trade adjustment assistance participants and dislocated workers [Title I (sec. 107)].
   —Allows the Director of the National Institutes of Health and the Director of the Office of AIDS Research to transfer up to 3 percent of the total amount of funding among institutes for the purpose of research relating to the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) [Title II (sec. 208)].
   —$10.25 billion for the Department of Labor.
   —$478.54 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services, including $29.65 billion for the National Institutes of Health and $400.98 billion for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
   —$43.76 billion for related agencies, including $41.80 billion for the Social Security Administration.
   — $63.54 million to establish the Medicare rural hospital flexibility grants program, $35 million for grant adjustments for existing community health centers, and $310.91 million for voluntary family planning projects, not to be expended for abortions.
   — $2.66 billion for low-income home energy assistance, $3.95 billion for child support enforcement and family support programs, $2.14 billion for child care assistance for low-income families, $6.96 billion to fund the Head Start Act through September 30, 2009, and $136.7 million to provide abstinence education.
   check it out:
   http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-3043&tab=summary

   — Bryan    Nov 13, 06:10 PM    #

3. First of all, who listens to Novak anymore??

   Second of all, the items listed by Bryan seem worthy to me.

   Bush is sure to excite his base…cut spending for children’s medical insurance and money for education. Makes me think his “base” is a bunch of evil, uncaring, selfish, greed-hounds.

   — michelle    Nov 13, 06:30 PM    #

4. Right on Michelle! Iif Congress won’t give him the money to fund an unending war, at least not without some assurrance of an end someday, the toddler we call President won’t fund anything (except perhaps tax cuts and no-bid contracts for his friends). I’d consider moving to Canada, but they have gotten more wary of immigrants since Sicko made that country seem so attractive!

   — TDD    Nov 14, 02:07 AM    #

5. All that needs to be said is, look at the source. Here is a man that tells other countries leaders that you can not be the leader of the military and the president at the same time. Dummy, is that not what he claims to be? With this type of thinking, anything that comes from his mouth is suspect. I am sure that he has someone counting for him because he has shown no evidence of being able to count.

   — Nupe    Nov 14, 09:10 AM    #

6. Ouch! Mr. Bush, doesn’t care at this point because he will be out of office soon. I am very disappointed that he vetoed the educational spending. Not surprised but very disappointed. I don’t think that the President should have such power. If a bill is passed by the house and the senate. Who is he to disagree?

   — Claudia Shenton    Nov 14, 03:50 PM    #

7. What were the wasteful earmarks? The research money above seems needed….

   — david    Nov 19, 04:55 PM    #

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