House Speaker Dennis Hastert said after the speech that when it comes to spending on relief, it simply must be done now, and the government will worry about the effects on the deficit later, NBC's Mike Viqueira reports. "For every dollar we spend, it will be that much longer that we have a budget deficit." Asked about "offsetting" the new spending with cuts elsewhere, Hastert said, "We have to get it done, whether it's offset or delayed payment or however we do it."
Viqueira adds that a group of Hastert's fiscally conservative colleagues and other enemies of profligate government spending held a presser yesterday to call for offsets, concerned about yesterday's Washington Post report projecting a relief cost of $200 billion, and about Tom DeLay's suggestion earlier this week that after 11 years of Republican rule on the Hill, government has been cut to the bone and there are no ways to offset spending. Sen. John McCain said at the presser, "We are going to end up with the highest deficit, probably, in the history of this country." Rep. Mike Pence, leader of the House conservative caucus, said that "the president must not only tell the American people what government is going to do... but also tell them what sacrifices they are going to have to make" in order to pay for it all. Bush didn't.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3626796/
Democrats already know how to pay for it, and the majority of Americans agree with us:
How do people think the reconstruction after Katrina should be primarily funded?
Democratic Solutions:
Reducing spending on the Iraq war: - 45%
Repeal tax cuts: - 27%
Raise income taxes: - 7%
Republican Solutions:
Increase the Deficit: - 8%
Cut federal spending - 12%
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9332076/
It looks like we win 79-20. And so does the county this way by not starving education and medicare for Halliburton contracts.
Speaking of Polls:
Iraq:
Approve of Bush's handling: - 37%
Disapprove: - 58%
Maintain Troop Level: - 36%
Reduce: - 55%
Bush's Approval Rating - 40%
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