Earmark Bill Blocked

Interestingly enough the Dem majority is starting to get a little nervous.

WASHINGTON — Senate Republicans blocked a $410 billion omnibus spending measure on Thursday night, forcing Congressional Democrats to prepare a stopgap budget resolution to keep the federal government from shutting down.

The ability of the diminished minority to delay the bill signaled growing unease in Congress, among Democrats and Republicans, over the levels of government spending in recent months and the staggering increase in the federal deficit.

The delay of the bill was an embarrassment for Democrats and a striking, if temporary, victory for critics of so-called earmark spending initiatives, who had criticized the bill as bloated with wasteful expenditures.

Among those critics were Senator John McCain, Republican of Arizona, and two Democrats who opposed the measure, Senators Evan Bayh of Indiana and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin.

But there were other reasons that Democrats came up short of the 60 votes needed to advance the bill. Two Hispanic senators — one Democrat, one Republican — opposed it over provisions that would have eased some travel and trade restrictions on Cuba.

I much prefer this example of McCain-Feingold politics.