House GOP Budget Plan Collapses
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/04/07/politics/main1480974.shtml?source=RSS&attr=Politics_1480974
(AP) The collapse of a $2.8 trillion House GOP budget
blueprint threatens to send Republicans into the fall
election season with deficits on the rise and no plan
in place to contain them.
Feuds among rival Republican factions led
House GOP leaders to pull the measure from
the floor Thursday, while separate talks aimed
at extending President Bush's tax cuts for
capital gains and dividends stalled.
That sent lawmakers home for a two-week recess
with few accomplishments to deliver to their constituents.
Opposition to the budget plan among moderates and a
power struggle between a faction of conservatives and
the House Appropriations Committee led to the demise of
the budget measure. Republican unity was essential to
passing the plan, since no Democrats were expected to
back it.
The episode embarrassed the newly overhauled
House GOP leadership, which is trying to demonstrate
to voters that it's cracking
down on spending.
House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
called it "a great day for the American people."
"The Republican party was forced to pull its
immoral budget from the floor," she said.
The defense increase came at the expense of
domestic programs like education, health research
and grants to local governments and relief agencies.
_________________________________________
.
|
