January 9, 2008 -- According to an article in The Hill, Jan. 9, Democrats capitulated in a stand-off with President Bush at the end of last year, by agreeing to the limit that he set for total federal spending. Democrats initially passed a group of appropriation bills that exceeded Bush's spending ceiling by $22 billion; funding intended to go toward veteran's medical care, transportation infrastructure, medical research, Pell grants, and low-income students. When White House officials refused to budge, Democratic leaders "rewarded the Bush administration's hard line" and caved in.

Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), the second-ranking Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said a White House official told him Bush would have agreed to spend more on domestic programs if Democrats had pushed a little harder. Murtha said, "We should have negotiated at $22 billion [over the President's number] to start with," rather than propose an $11 billion compromise and then fold entirely. "One of the [White House] staffers called my staffer and said, 'You guys gave up too early, we thought we were going to end up at 7 or 8 billion dollars more.'"

Its time to dump Pelosi!