Republican gifts to Democrats, March 15

1) Rejected an amendment that would make it harder to raise spending and increase the national debt - an amendment sponsored by Democrats. The amendment lost on a 50-50 vote, and so you can really tell Republicans are serious about fiscal responsibility, they didn't ask for Dick Cheney to come and alter the outcome. So both the White House and Republicans in the Senate can appear fiscally irresponsible.

Republicans argue they would rather cut taxes freely rather than find money to justify those tax cuts. You brave, brave men.

2) Republicans in the House opposed a Democratic proposed plan that would call for more stringent reviews of "all transactions that could result in foreign control of any person engaged in interstate commerce." House Republicans also rejected more spending to secure our nation's ports, just to show how serious they were on the issue.

3) From Raw Story:

Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA) has alleged in a letter to White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card that President Bush signed a version of the Budget Reconciliation Act that, in effect, did not pass the House of Representatives.

Further, Waxman says there is reason to believe that the Speaker of the House called President Bush before he signed the law, and alerted him that the version he was about to sign differed from the one that actually passed the House. If true, this would put the President in willful violation of the U.S. Constitution.

Just what you want when there are already stories swirling about White House incompetence - another story that highlights said incompetence.