SCHIP, Spending Clash Could Divide GOP« Thread Started on Oct 9, 2007, 9:01pm » --------------------------------------------------------------------------------SCHIP, Spending Clash Could Divide GOPread at source> http://www.usnews.com/usnews/politics/b ... mPresident Bush is likely to veto appropriations bills passed by the Democratic Congress over what the White House calls excessive spending. While most analysts believe Bush has chosen to make spending an issue in the last year of his presidency to rally the GOP base, commentators are suggesting the strategy could well backfire. Instead, they say, Bush's hard line against spending could split members of his own party. This morning, the Washington Times reports the President's "veto of a Democrat-sponsored children's health bill, and veto threats against 11 of 12 spending bills, have failed to energize the conservative base this year. Potential political momentum has been slowed by the Republican Party's own fiscal recklessness in the past." The AP says "more and more" Republicans "are deserting" Bush "on domestic issues sure to figure in 2008 contests." Bush "is trying to reach out to the party's base and re-establish his credentials as a fiscal conservative." But "economic and libertarian-minded Republican conservatives suggest Bush's overtures are too little too late to help a despondent Republican party bracing for the possibility that the White House will end up in Democratic hands." --------------------------------------------------------------------------------