Thankfully - Congress Will Finally Go Home

Obey Out has learned that the House of Representatives intends to complete its business for the year sometime in the next 12 hours. What a relief. Dave Obey and his band of merry spenders may be defeated this year. Despite fierce opposition by Obey, Republicans will keep its spending bills at budgeted levels, they will pass a $41.6 billion deficit reduction act, and they will pass a 1% across the board reduction in discretionary programs. They've done this to offset the costs of Gulf Coast hurricanes and to ensure we are prepared for the avian flu. That's right, the era of Congress running up spending seems to be on hold for now. Maybe that's because they caught the USA Today/Gallup poll that said two-thirds of Americans want Congress to pay for things like Gulf Coast recovery by cutting spending rather than raising taxes or increasing the deficit.

Dave Obey has voted against the deficit reduction act, and will likely strongly oppose the 1% across the board reduction - proving once again that he is out of touch with a majority of Americans in addition to his constituents. We imagine we will see him on the floor later tonight bemoaning responsible spending. If you like C-Span, watch for Obey tonight when the Department of Defense Appropriatons bill hits the floor.