Blue Dogs Present The Single Biggest Threat to Obama's Budget
The Blue Dogs don't really care what the economy is doing to the rest of us. They only care about getting reelected - which means opposing the Obama budget is really their own personal stimulus plan! (Even though, you know, they had no problem rubber-stamping the spending for the Everlasting Iraq War for Bush.)
WASHINGTON — Government spending on most domestic programs is growing at its fastest pace in nearly 30 years, and a lot of worried Democrats are seeking ways to rewrite and reduce the size of President Barack Obama's budget proposals.
As a result, "you'll see a budget come out of the House that spends considerably less," said Rep. Allen Boyd, D-Fla., a leader of the Blue Dog Democrats, a group of 47 of the party's House of Representatives conservatives and moderates.
If all 47 Blue Dogs joined the House's 178 Republicans, they could deny Democratic leaders a House majority of 218.
The House Budget Committee plans hearings this week on Obama's $3.6 trillion blueprint for fiscal 2010, the 12-month period that begins Oct. 1, and the full House is expected to vote on it sometime in the week of March 30.
The Senate is likely to consider the budget the same week, and Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., is also voicing reservations about the package's size.
"When I look at this budget, I see the debt doubling again, and that gives me great concern," he said. Obama's budget projects that by 2019, debt held by the public will reach $15.3 trillion, roughly double the current level.
