As Dana mentioned in his post earlier this morning, House Appropriations Chair David Obey is abandoning a "split the difference" approach to passing a budget, because the president is sticking to his guns and insisting that any budget presented by Congress total less than his $933 billion "top line" figure. Obey is folding like a cheap suit acceding to Bush's harsh budget because he (and Congressional leadership) would rather not take a black eye for contributing to a shutdown of the federal government. While I would like to think that Congress feels more than the political pain of a budget fiasco, I am not so certain that there's a whole lot of empathy for the millions of Americans that will be adversely affected by spending cuts in vital domestic programs. And honestly, I'm not sure how Congressional leadership is supposed make the proverbial lemonade here, but come on - lead! Maybe it's too late to shift the rhetorical melee, but Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Robert Byrd (D-WV) nails what should be the frame of this skirmish($): It is extraordinary that the president would request an 11 percent increase for the Department of Defense, a 12 percent increase for foreign aid, and $195 billion of emergency funding for the war, while asserting that a 4.7 percent increase for domestic programs is fiscally irresponsible...