President Bush, August 2, 2007: Unfortunately, Democratic leaders in Congress want to spend far more. Their budget calls for nearly $22 billion more in discretionary spending next year alone. These leaders have tried to downplay that figure. Yesterday one called this increase -- and I quote -- "a very small difference" from what I proposed. Only in Washington can $22 billion be called a very small difference. Far be it from me to suggest that $22 billion isn't a lot of money. I will, however, agree that a difference of $22 billion can be "a very small difference." Allow me to illustrate:

Underfunding at the Justice Department is causing problems, via Think Progress. Whoever succeeds Alberto Gonzales as attorney general will face a long list of challenges at the Justice Department, from unfilled senior positions to sagging morale. One of the most pressing, according to dozens of current and former federal prosecutors, is a budget squeeze at U.S. attorneys' offices that has led to declines in crime prosecutions and delays in major investigations.

The Brookings Katrina Index has a special edition of its regular report on the Hurricane Katrina recovery. In sum, two years after Hurricane Katrina and the subsequent levee failures, the city of New Orleans and its metro area has bounced back, recovering most of its population and economic base. Yet, progress in the past year has slowed, basic services and infrastructure remain thin, and stark disparities loom between the recovery of Orleans and St. Bernard parishes and the rest of the region.

The editorial board of the conservative Washington Times takes a look behind the optics of the coming budget fight, which concerns less than one percent of federal spending. While we welcome the fiscal restraint now being demonstrated by President Bush and congressional Republicans, we regret that their unrestrained profligacy during the previous six years has contributed so much to the fiscal challenges that now confront the nation...