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Ken Salazar on EducationDemocratic Jr Senator (CO) |
[Salazar said in the letter], “I understand the desired goal is to have the Pledge recited each day. However, the federal constitution prohibits the government from compelling speech. To reconcile these two matters, we made recommendations for changes regarding HB 04-1002 concerning the Pledge of Allegiance. Those recommendations were adopted by the House State Affairs Committee. I believe those amendments will most likely satisfy the Court’s concerns on compelling recitation of the Pledge. I would therefore urge legislators to support the amendments.“
In signing onto a limited voucher program he is showing independence from the traditional Democratic Party position -- what they call in politics a “Sister Souljah moment” -- without going so far that his supporters would feel sold out.
Proponents support voting YES because:
Rep. OBEY: This bill, more than any other, determines how willing we are to make the investment necessary to assure the future strength of this country and its working families. The President has chosen to cut the investments in this bill by more than $7.5 billion in real terms. This bill rejects most of those cuts.
Opponents recommend voting NO because:
Rep. LEWIS: This bill reflects a fundamental difference in opinion on the level of funding necessary to support the Federal Government's role in education, health and workforce programs. The bill is $10.2 billion over the President's budget request. While many of these programs are popular on both sides of the aisle, this bill contains what can rightly be considered lower priority and duplicative programs. For example, this legislation continues three different programs that deal with violence prevention. An omnibus bill is absolutely the wrong and fiscally reckless approach to completing this year's work. It would negate any semblance of fiscal discipline demonstrated by this body in recent years.
Veto message from President Bush:
This bill spends too much. It exceeds [by $10.2 billion] the reasonable and responsible levels for discretionary spending that I proposed to balance the budget by 2012. This bill continues to fund 56 programs that I proposed to terminate because they are duplicative, narrowly focused, or not producing results. This bill does not sufficiently fund programs that are delivering positive outcomes. This bill has too many earmarks--more than 2,200 earmarks totaling nearly $1 billion. I urge the Congress to send me a fiscally responsible bill that sets priorities.