Cato Institute objects to the House Budget Committee chairperson's threat to raise corporate taxes, but it's clear the juicier irony is that the Bush administration is forced politically to choose between war funding and soldiers. This is what I elected a divided government for, really!

DKos' mcjoan reminds us, though, a pay increase is really not enough.

Bowers also pointed out that the $40 a month to survivors could mean the difference between families being able to have health insurance or not. That this administration would fight over a paltry $6 for the men and women serving in Iraq and Afghanistan is deplorable, but hardly surprising. So Congress, make Bush get out that veto pen one more time. Expose Bush and his rubberstamp Republicans for what they are on Iraq: total hypocrites.

The difference between a 3% and a 3.5% increase is spin-worthy, but at the end of the day, the whole bill is a Mexican standoff. The Bush administration has no leg to stand on, if now it tries to be fiscally conservative. Of course, there is one way to save money, but we can't just pull out of Iraq. The war that would cause no pain should start to hurt fairly.