Jousting Continues Over Budget Increase for Education

White House stands by vow that Bush will veto boost in domestic spending.

Congress gave final approval last week to a bill that would boost spending for the Department of Education and set up a showdown with President Bush, who has pledged a veto because the measure contains more money than he requested for education, health, and labor programs.

The bill includes $60.7 billion in discretionary spending for the Education Department for fiscal year 2008, which began Oct. 1. That would be a 5.5 percent increase over the $57.5 billion education programs received in fiscal 2007 and 8.3 percent more than the amount President Bush requested.

Early in the week, the House approved the spending bill for the departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education as part of a legislative package that included a measure financing military-construction projects and veterans’ programs, which President Bush supports. Democratic leaders were hoping that pairing the two bills would make it difficult for the president to veto the bill, because it would mean delaying money for veterans’ programs. The vote was...