Senate blocks Bush plan to replace Federal workers with contractors

[Bush_Eats_Beef]

http://www.salon.com/news/wire/2004/09/09/senate/index.html

A subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee "approved an amendment by Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md., thwarting Bush from replacing some federal workers with private contractors. Sens. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., and Christopher Bond, R-Mo., facing re-election this year in labor states, voted for the proposal."

The full Senate's battling over domestic security spending came during an election campaign in which the threat of terrorism is clearly on voters' minds.

Recalling Bush's promises to do whatever is needed to protect the country, Sen. Robert Byrd, W-Va., said, "He pats himself on the back, wraps himself in the flag, and tells Americans that he is a war president and that we should trust him."

Wary of worsening record federal deficits, Republicans argued the Homeland Security measure already had enough money.