Bush Gibes Pelosi About Spending Remark
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
WASHINGTON — President Bush ridiculed the House speaker, Rep. Nancy Pelosi, yesterday — though not by name — for saying that the $22 billion that separates congressional Democrats from the White House on spending bills is a “very small difference.”
“Only in Washington can $22 billion be called a ‘very small difference,'” Mr. Bush said after meeting with his Cabinet. “That’s a lot of money — even for career politicians in Washington.”
The president knocked Democratic leaders for planning to send Congress into its summer recess for a month starting this weekend without sending him a single one of the bills.
“If Congress doesn’t pass the spending bills by the end of the fiscal year, Cabinet secretaries report that their departments may be unable to move forward with urgent priorities for our country,” Mr. Bush said. He has threatened vetoes or signaled veto threats against nine of the 12 annual spending bills for the budget year beginning October 1.
