GOP-Controlled House Passes $1.2 Trillion Budget

The GOP-controlled U.S. House passed a $1.2 Trillion budget yesterday 235-189.  The budget which covers every federal department funds the government through the end of the 2011 fiscal year, which ends September 30th. 

The House passed the bill, with $61 Billion is cuts which cut from Planned Parenthood, the new federal health care reform bill, domestic and foreign aid, partial school funding and even cuts to the Environmental Protection Agency.  The cuts came forty percent lower than the initial goal of cutting $100 Billion from the budget, but did cut $100 Billion from what Obama has proposed.

What was not cut was funding for the Department of Defense funding of NASCAR advertisements.  The Pentagon spends $7 Million annually to fund NASCAR Sprint Cup driver Randy Newman and other partnerships.  Given the U.S. federal deficit is over $14 Trillion, Congress should have passed the amendment to defund the Pentagon's funding of NASCAR.  The funding is not necessary to protect the United States, the core reason why the Department of Defense is funded in the first place.  Instead, Congress gave the green light to the funding by rejecting the Democrat submitted amendment 281-148, with Republicans largely voting against the measure. With this vote, the Republicans dropped the ball and failed to live up to their fiscal conservative calling card.