Welcome news

The coalition of mostly Southern moderate to conservative Democrats in the House of Representatives that calls itself "Blue Dog" Democrats may be poised to do something constructive on spending. Although their protest is aimed more at an offshoot than at the central problem with funding ongoing wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is worth applauding their efforts.
Although the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan are into their sixth years, they are funded by "emergency" supplemental appropriations rather than through the Pentagon's regular budget. House Democratic leaders tacked on several unrelated or distantly related items to the latest appropriations, and the Blue Dogs have complained that the leaders have departed from the "pay as you go" promise made when voters made Democrats the majority in Congress.
Specifically, there's an $11 billion extension of unemployment benefits, and a change in the GI Bill that would give veterans a year of free college education for every year served in war zones. That would cost taxpayers around $52 billion.
The 47 Blue Dogs oppose those domestic spending proposals and they say they're going to hang tough this year. If they do, it is unlikely the domestic spending aspect of the bill would pass.
We hope the Blue Dogs stick together.