Let Them Wear Blankets

Bid for More Home Heating Aid Fails in Senate: "People could have to 'choose between keeping the heat on, putting food on the table or buying much-needed prescription drugs,' Collins said. 'No family should need to make such terrible choices.'

Reed cited estimates that those who heat their homes with fuel oil will need $1,600 this winter, up $380, and the cost of using natural gas for heating could rise $500, to $1,400.

Well, looks like I undergestimated that expense. My budget is toast. That didn't take long.

The Senate also defeated, 53 to 46, an alternative put forward by Budget Committee Chairman Judd Gregg (R-N.H.) that would have increased spending on the program by about $1.3 billion. The measure would have paid for the increase with an across-the-board cut of almost 1 percent in programs included in a $146 billion spending bill covering health, education and labor programs.

Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.) said that education grants for low-income children would be cut by $118 million, affecting 37,000 youths, and that Head Start would lose $63 million.

Once you are born it is survival of the fittest (richest).

It was the third time this month that Reed unsuccessfully offered a LIHEAP amendment to a spending bill. He said he would keep trying.

Good luck with that.

The Senate rejected several other efforts to stretch the budget to obtain more money for popular programs. Sen. Robert C. Byrd (D-W.Va.) sought an extra $5 billion for education grants for low-income children, and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) wanted $4 billion more for the Individuals with Disabilities Act.

If you didn't donate substantially to our campaign we don't care about you and we don't even have to pretend.

Meanwhile, House Republicans voted to cut student loan subsidies, child support enforcement and aid to firms hurt by unfair trade practices as various committees scrambled to piece together $50 billion in budget cuts.

We don't care if you go to school (it doesn't matter that we will have to import doctors, we can travel outside the US if needed) and that thing about responsibility? Hey, use the internets to track down the deadbeat parent so your kid can go to a good school, eat food regularly and stay out of jail. It isn't our problem until you step out of line and then we will house and feed you at government expense ($40k a year).