Congress unlikely to pass election-year budget Republicans split on tax cuts WASHINGTON (AP) -- Republican hopes of pushing a $2.4 trillion budget through Congress have all but vanished, an election-year embarrassment forced by an angry rift between GOP moderates and conservatives over tax cuts. Though Republicans control the House and Senate, they almost certainly will fail to complete one of Congress' most basic tasks, raising questions about the GOP's ability to manage its narrow majorities. Without a budget, Congress can still pass spending bills to keep agencies functioning, and tax cuts, too. But Republicans lose the procedural advantages that make it easier to cut taxes, raise the federal borrowing limit and keep spending bills' costs from swelling. "This is a battle within the Republican Party about whether deficit reduction or smaller government should be the dominant ideology," said Brian Riedl, budget analyst for the conservative Heritage Foundation. Conservatives say cutting taxes will force lawmakers to make government smaller. "Because the Republican Party is not united on that issue, there are going to be breakdowns," he said. With war, terrorism and the economy stealing the headlines, few voters are likely to notice whether lawmakers finish a blueprint of their tax and spending goals for the federal budget year that starts October 1. But it was an emotional fight on Capitol Hill. House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, accused moderate Sen. John McCain, R-Arizona, of not understanding sacrifice during wartime, prompting McCain -- the former Vietnam prisoner of war -- to question his party's devotion to reducing deficits. http://www.cnn.com/2004/ALLPOLITICS/06/30/congress.budget.ap/index.html
How on earth do you claim McCain doesn't 'understand sacrifice during wartime.' That is more offfensive than anything I've seen the .org crowd say.
The entertainment will be in the streets of New York. I believe it will make Chicago 1968 look like a Girl Scout convention.
NO kidding. Part of what I find so disgusing about some GOP members these days is their willingness to denigrate anyone, including members of their own party, for not toeing the line and doing what they are told.
Nope, the entire convention and the surrounding area will be devoid of protesters. They are being relegated to an area blocks away from MSG where their dissenting views will not be heard by anyone attending the convention. BTW, the Dems aren't any better, they have their own "free speech zone" in Boston quite a ways from where the convention is being held.
Looks like it'll be the bedroom, where the Republicans will be talking to various whores about the sanctity of marriage.
