Social Spending to Stimulate the Publishing Sector? Man bites dog: the administration is balking at some cuts that House Appropriations Committee chair Rep. David Obey (D-WI) has made made to the Labor-HHS bill. A brand new veto threat of that bill, issued today, reads in part: The Administration strongly opposes the $629 million reduction in the Reading First program. While the Administration recognizes the significant issues outlined in several Inspector General reports, the Department has addressed these problems and implemented all the IG's recommendations. What the veto statement doesn't say is that the Reading First program remains under investigation for allegations of strong-arming local school districts into using textbooks by publishers favored by the administration. (See here, here, and here) I had been under the impression that the purpose of Bush's sudden rash of veto threats of spending bills was to demonstrate his deathbed conversion to the principle of fiscal responsibility. But maybe I fail to appreciate the supply-side nature of the spending in this case -- due to its stimulative nature, would spending on the Reading First program end up paying for itself?