This fall the White House and Congress will face off in an epic showdown over spending priorities. President Bush continues to insist that Congress provide more than $120 billion a year for an unpopular war in Iraq, while at the same time insisting that the additional $22 billion Congress wants to spend on domestic priorities will bust the budget. He has threatened to veto nearly all of the domestic appropriation bills now before the Congress.
It appears that the first appropriation bill Congress is likely to send the President will fund the Department of Homeland Security. According to a letter sent on June 12th “The Administration strongly opposes” that bill because the $2.1 billion it includes above the amount requested by the White House is “irresponsible and excessive.”
But what is Congress spending that $2.1 billion on at Homeland Security that the White House so strongly objects to and should the Congress allow the veto to stand if the President makes good on his threat. These are questions that Congressman David Price, Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee that drafted the legislation will address at a Center for American Progress forum at 11:00 am on Monday, July 30, 2007.
Keynote Speaker:
Representative David Price (D-NC)
Moderated by:
Scott Lilly, Senior Fellow, Center for American Progress