President Bush on Monday reiterated his threat to veto 10 of the 12 appropriations bills for fiscal year 2008, which begins on Monday, because of $22 billion in spending included for health care and other domestic programs that exceeds his request of $933 billion, USA Today reports (Leavitt, USA Today, 9/25). The House has approved all 12 of the appropriations bills, and the Senate has approved four of the bills (Pfeiffer, Washington Times, 9/25).

The appropriations bills that Bush has threatened to veto include the Labor-HHS-Education spending bill. The House version of the legislation includes $151.7 billion in discretionary funds, compared with the $140.9 billion that Bush requested (Wall Street Journal graphic, 9/25). Bush said that Democratic lawmakers have sought to "sneak in all kinds of special projects" in the appropriations bills (Washington Times, 9/25). He said, "If they think that by waiting until just before they leave for the year to send me a bill that is way over budget and thicker than a phone book, if they think that's going to force me to sign it, it's not" (Cohn, CongressDaily, 9/25).

Democrats said that might have support from an adequate number of moderate Republicans to override some the vetoes of appropriations bills. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) said, "Whether we're going to have ... a healthier nation, that's what this dispute is about," adding, "We think these are responsible bills" (Washington Times, 9/25).

Continuing Resolution
In other budget news, House and Senate Democrats this week hope to pass a continuing resolution to fund the federal government through Nov. 16 to allow time to resolve differences with Bush on the appropriations bills, CongressDaily reports (CongressDaily, 9/25). The House and Senate likely will vote on the resolution this week. The resolution likely will include a temporary extension of SCHIP.

Bush has asked Congress to pass a "clean" resolution without additional spending or policy provisions. House Appropriations Committee Chair David Obey (D-Wis.) said that the resolution would not include such provisions. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said that the resolution likely will pass in the Senate (Clarke, CQ Today, 9/24).

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