Democrats, Eager to Expand Programs, Are Frustrated by Strict Spending Curbs
WASHINGTON -- Congressional Democrats have big ambitions but little room to maneuver in this year's restrictive budget climate.</br></br>Lawmakers are hoping to improve health insurance, create new child-care programs and even spend more money on the military, particularly for veterans. But they are hemmed in by the rising cost of the war, the ballooning budget deficit and a law passed last year that strictly limits new spending.</br></br>"There's more and more evidence of social decay, and less and less money to cope with it," says Rep. Thomas Downey (D., N.Y.). "It's tremendously frustrating."</br></br>This strain is largely the product of last year's budget agreement. The new budget law sets strict spending ceilings on all domestic, military and foreign aid appropriations. If one program expands significantly, another program in the same general category must be cut. Lawmakers who want to raise spending in an entitlement program, such as Medicare, must increase taxes or reduce benefits elsewhere.</br></br>Making these constraints even tighter are the costs of the Mideast war, which are estimated to be as much as $1 billion a day. "The war will cost on an annual basis as much as national health insurance would cost," says Rep. David Obey, a liberal Democrat from Wisconsin. "We'll be paying for one and not the other."