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Senate Restores Bush's Cuts, Passes Health, Education Bill

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By ANDREW TAYLOR, The Associated Press

Published: October 24, 2007

WASHINGTON - Senate Democrats on Tuesday reversed President Bush's cuts to education, health research and grants to local entities as they gird for Bush's first-ever veto of a regular appropriations bill.

With a 75-19 vote, the Senate gave bipartisan approval to a huge health and education spending bill that likely will be the first of the fiscal 2008 spending bills Democrats will ship to the White House to start a veto battle involving the budget for almost every domestic agency.

It promises to be a protracted battle, and Bush has a decided advantage, but Democrats have seized on the massive health and education measure as the best measure with which to challenge Bush and his GOP allies in Congress.

The measure totals more than $600 billion and reverses a raft of cuts sought by Bush to health research, special education and funding for grants to community groups that help the poor, among others.

The confrontation with Bush over domestic programs - many of which are also popular with Republicans, as demonstrated by the margin of passage - will come on the heels of the bruising veto battle over a children's health insurance bill.

Programs funded by the health and education bill affect schoolchildren, workers, the poor and disabled, the unemployed and those with special needs or drug and alcohol problems, among others.

'In passing this bill, Democrats in Congress will say that the president doesn't care about children or education or health research,' White House press secretary Dana Perino said. 'We've all heard these tired old lines before. The facts demonstrate the president's strong and consistent commitment to children, education and health research - and the American people are smart enough to know that there is no such thing as a free lunch.'

The Senate measure, which exceeds Bush's budget by more than $10 billion, must be reconciled with a companion House measure passed in July before the legislation can be sent to Bush.

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