Spending Bill Voted Down 224 - 209

Today, the House voted down a health, education and labor appropriations bill that would have cut many social programs, including job training, children's health Head Start, the CDC, drug abuse programs and the No Child Left Behind initiative. There were 22 Republicans who voted against the bill, despite the Republicans' usual pressure tactics and delays in closing the vote. The final vote was 224-209. It is another sign of crumbling Republican discipline and is especially significant because the House Republicans have typically been more lock-step than those in the Senate. It also may provide an opportunity to review the Presidents' seemingly untouchable tax cuts to repeal future tax cuts for the wealthy in order to fill some of the hole in the roughly $300 billion deficit (which includes an off-budget surplus of between $100 and $200 billion, mostly from Social Security). The deficit has the potential, despite the promising growth in inflows of foreign money in September, to destabilize the financial markets and the real economy if it is expected to remain constant or grow in the future.