Bush readies Veto stamp

WASHINGTON (Dow Jones) - Less than a week after sending lawmakers his fiscal 2009 budget request, U.S. President George W. Bush said he will veto spending bills he deems to be excessive.

The remarks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington amount to his first veto threat over next year’s budget and signal an election-year battle over spending. Bush and lawmakers fought over the current year’s budget well after the fiscal year began in October, a fight that included multiple veto threats and concluded with a massive omnibus spending bill.

The $3.1 trillion budget Bush submitted on Monday seeks deep cuts in Medicare and Medicaid and a less-than-1% increase in non-security discretionary spending. Democrats have dismissed the request as dead on arrival.

“If Congress sends me appropriations bills that exceed the reasonable limits I have set, I will veto the bills,” Bush said at CPAC.

The president also challenged Democrats to tackle entitlement spending, touting the proposed $200 billion in five-year Medicare and Medicaid cuts in his budget.

“I hear all the talk from the other side on Capitol Hill about fiscal responsibility - but they haven’t put any of their ideas on the table for programs,” Bush said. “It is time to stop talking, it is time for them to stop (posturing) and not pass these problems on to future Congresses and future generations.”