Budget showdown risky for Bush
TEXT OF STORY
Doug Krizner: The White House and Congress are on a collision course over the federal budget. Democrats are being accused of flirting with a government shutdown. But, as Marketplace’s Steve Henn reports, its one fight Democrats think they can win.
Steve Henn: President Bush has accused Democrats of wasteful spending, and is threatening to veto seven different bills that fund everything from the Department of Labor to the Department of Homeland Security.
Bob Greenstein: There is about a 20-billion-dollar difference between the President and the Congress on the domestic funding bills.
Bob Greenstein is at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Greenstein: I think this is shaping up to be a pretty ugly showdown.
If Bush follows through on his veto threats, he will have to convince dozens of Republicans not break ranks — or he could be humiliated, according to Stan Collender, who follows the budget for the National Journal.
Stan Collender: That means by the time October 1st rolls around — the beginning of the fiscal year — the president could be completely, utterly politically emasculated.
If he vetoes federal spending bills, but can’t back it up, Collender says, Bush would head into this winter bogged down by war and unable to hold the line on the federal budget.
In Washington, I’m Steve Henn for Marketplace.
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