09/25/2007
With the new fiscal year less than a week away, Congress has failed to pass any of the 12 appropriations bills, and Monday President Bush called for a stopgap spending bill to keep the government up and running until Congress could finish its work.
"People should not be denied services because the Congress can't get its job done," Bush said, according to Forbes.com.
Though the House has passed all 12 of its bills, the Senate has only passed four (military construction, homeland security, transportation and state-foreign operations), and lawmakers are now hurrying to extend government funding until they can pass all 12 bills. While the House predicts only a few more weeks are needed to pass the bills and the Senate is looking at a Thanksgiving deadline, House Speaker Pelosi is "intent on finishing by Nov. 9," according to CQ.com.
Not helping matters is the current feud between some lawmakers and the president, which is fueled by the desire to spend $23 billion more than what Bush has proposed. The president has threatened to veto most of the bills, as they exceed his proposed budget.
