US Congress Approves Obama's $3.6 Trillion Budget for 2010 Fiscal Year, with a $1.2 Trillion Deficit

House, Senate pass Obama-friendly budget plans

By DAVID ESPO and ANDREW TAYLOR Associated Press Writers

Apr 2, 2009, 11:56 PM EDT

WASHINGTON (AP) --

Acting in quick succession, the House and Senate approved budgets Thursday night drawn to President Barack Obama's specifications and pointing the way toward major legislation later this year on health care, energy and education.

"It's going to take a lot of work to clean up the mess we inherited, and passing this budget is a critical step in the right direction," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said. "Staying true to these priorities will help turn around the economy for the many Americans who are underwater right now."

Republicans in both houses accused Democrats of drafting plans that would hurt the recession-ravaged economy in the long run, rather than help it, and saddle future generations with too much debt.

"The administration's budget simply taxes too much, spends too much and borrows too much at a moment when we can least afford it," said the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky.

But a Republican alternative fared poorly in the House, where 38 GOP lawmakers voted against a plan supported by their own leadership. Officials ascribed much of the opposition to a provision that called for eliminating traditional fee-for-service Medicare for individuals who reach age 65 in 2020 or later and replacing it with coverage from private insurance companies.

On a long day and night, the House was first to vote, and approved its version of the budget on a 233-196 roll call that fell largely along party lines. It calls for spending of $3.6 trillion for the budget year that begins Oct. 1, and includes a deficit of $1.2 trillion.

The Senate acted a few hours later, with Vice President Joe Biden presiding. The vote was 55-43 for a slightly different blueprint that calls for spending $3.5 trillion and forecasts a deficit of $1.2 trillion.

Both deficit forecasts are exceedingly high by historical standards. But they would represent an improvement over this year's projected total of $1.8 trillion, swollen by spending and tax cuts designed to rejuvenate the economy as well as steps to bail out the financial industry.

The day's events capped a busy three months for the Democratic-controlled Congress that took office in January.

Moving with unusual speed, lawmakers have enacted a $787 billion economic stimulus measure, cleared the way for release of $350 billion in financial industry bailout funds, approved an expansion of children's health care and sent Obama legislation setting aside more than 2 million acres in nine states as protected wilderness.

The White House issued a statement hailing the House vote as "another step toward rebuilding our struggling economy."

And while they represented victories for the administration, the budgets merely cleared the way for work later in the year on key presidential priorities - expansion and overhaul of the nation's health care system, creation of a new energy policy and sweeping changes in education.

Major battles lie ahead, particularly over health care and energy. And while Obama made a series of specific proposals to fund his initiatives, congressional budget-writers avoided taking a position on his recommended curtailing of Medicare spending, for example, or imposing hundreds of billions of dollars in new costs on the nation's polluters.

There was no suspense on either side of the Capitol as lawmakers engaged in an annual budget ritual.

In the House, that meant voting first on doomed alternatives drafted by progressives, the Congressional Black Caucus and a splinter group of conservatives. In the Senate, it meant a day of sifting through nonbinding proposals often meant to score political points.

The House plan called for spending $3.6 trillion in the budget year that begins Oct. 1, according to the Congressional Budget Office, compared with $3.5 trillion for the Senate version and $3.6 trillion for Obama's original plan.

The House plan envisioned a deficit of $1.2 trillion for 2010, falling to a projected $598 billion after five years. The comparable Senate estimates were $1.2 trillion in 2010 and $508 billion in 2014.

Obama's budget would leave a deficit of $749 billion in five years' time, according to congressional estimates - too high for his Democratic allies.

To reduce the red ink, Democrats pared Obama's proposed spending, ignored his call for another $250 billion in bailout money for the financial industry and assumed that his signature tax cuts of $400 for individuals and $800 for couples would expire in 2011.

The House budget drew opposition from 20 Democrats as well as all 176 Republicans who voted.

In the Senate, only two Democrats voted against the plan, along with all 41 Republicans.

The budget plans do not require Obama's signature, but the House and Senate will have to reconcile the two versions before they can move onto the next phase of the presidential agenda.

"We are not that far apart," said Rep. John Spratt, the South Carolina Democrat who chairs the House Budget Committee.

One difference, seemingly arcane, involved the ground rules to cover work later in the year on health care.

The House budget provides for a "fast-track" procedure that would bar Senate Republicans from attempting to filibuster the legislation Obama wants to remake the nation's health care system. Republicans have warned that the prospects for bipartisanship will all but vanish if majority Democrats attempt to muzzle them.

In a long day of debate in the House, Democratic liberals and Republican conservatives took turns presenting lost-cause alternatives that reflected varying priorities.

The plan advanced by House Republicans, which failed 293-137, would have cut deeply into Obama's recommended spending levels for domestic programs such as education, parks and transportation, while calling for additional tax cuts. Republicans said their alternative would have spent $4.8 trillion less than Obama's budget over 10 years, with significantly lower deficits.

The Medicare proposal would have required anyone currently under 55 to obtain coverage from a private health plan when they turned 65. Their costs would be paid at least in part with government funds. Current Medicare recipients and near-retirees would not have been affected. Supporters said the change would prevent Medicare from going broke.

U.S. House approves budget plan for 2010 fiscal year

2009-04-03 08:53:33  

·The U.S. House has approved a 3.45-trillion-dollar budget blueprint for the 2010 fiscal year. ·The Senate is working on its own budget and is expected to pass it as soon as late Thursday. ·The budget of the House includes a deficit of 1.2 trillion dollars for the 2010 fiscal year.

    WASHINGTON, April 2 (Xinhua) -- The U.S. House of Representatives has approved a 3.45-trillion-dollar budget blueprint for the 2010 fiscal year largely in line with President Barack Obama's proposal.

    The Democratic-drafted budget got approval Thursday by a vote of 233-196, along party lines, after defeating a Republican alternative that slashed spending and taxes.

    The Senate is working on its own budget for the 2010 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1 this year. It is expected to pass its plan as soon as late Thursday, according to news reports.

    Any differences between the two versions will have to be worked out.

    The House budget is slightly less expensive than the 3.55-trillion-dollar budget that Obama submitted to Congress in February. The budget includes a deficit of 1.2 trillion dollars for the 2010 fiscal year.

    Obama's budget, his first one, seeks to shore up the nation's economy that has been in a recession since December 2007 while overhauling health care, energy and education.

    The president has described his budget as "an economic blueprint for our future -- a foundation on which to build a recovery that lasts."

    "Our budget lays the groundwork for a sustained, shared, and job-creating recovery," House Democratic leader Steny Hoyer was quoted as saying.

    Republicans, however, contend the budget spend too much and will leave the nation with deficits that are too large.

    The budget legislation is non-binding but sets guidelines for spending and tax measures that will be considered later this year, according to the news reports.

Obama hails House approval of budget for 2010 fiscal year

2009-04-03 10:25:18  

    WASHINGTON, April 2 (Xinhua) --

U.S. President Barack Obama on Thursday hailed the approval by the House of Representatives of a budget blueprint for 2010 fiscal year, which largely reflects the priorities the president has laid out in his own budget plan.

    "Tonight, the House of Representatives took another step toward rebuilding our struggling economy," Obama said in a statement, which was made available on the White House website.

    The House version of the 2010 budget "embraces our most fundamental priorities" including an energy plan, an education system and health care reform, he said.

    "And by making hard choices and challenging the old ways of doing business, we will cut in half the budget deficit we inherited within four years," the president vowed.

    The Democratic-drafted 3.6-trillion-dollar House budget plan for the 2010 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, 2009, got approval earlier Thursday by a vote of 233-196, along party lines, after defeating a Republican alternative that slashed spending and taxes.

    The Senate is expected to pass its own version of budget plan as soon as late Thursday.

    The budget plans do not require Obama's signature, but the House and Senate will have to work out any differences between the two versions before they can move onto the next phase of the presidential agenda.

    Republicans in both houses contend the budget plans tax too much, spend too much and borrow too much "at a moment when we can least afford it" and will leave the nation with huge deficits, hurting the economy in the long run.

    According to the bipartisan Congressional Budget Office, the House budget plan called for spending 3.6 trillion dollars in the 2010 fiscal year, compared with 3.5 trillion dollars for the Senate version and 3.6 trillion dollars for Obama's original plan.

    The House plan envisioned a deficit of 1.2 trillion dollars for 2010, falling to a projected 598 billion dollars after five years. The comparable Senate estimates were 1.2 trillion dollars in 2010 and 508 billion dollars in 2014.

    Obama's budget would leave a deficit of 749 billion dollars in five years' time.

    To reduce budget deficit, Democrats ignored Obama's call for another 250 billion dollars in bailout money for the financial industry and assumed that his signature tax cuts of 400 dollars for individuals and 800 dollars for couples would expire in 2011.

    Obama submitted a 3.6-trillion-dollar budget to Congress in February. The budget, his first one, seeks to shore up the nation's economy that has been in a recession since December 2007 while overhauling health care, energy and education.

    The president has described his budget as "an economic blueprint for our future -- a foundation on which to build a recovery that lasts."

    In the budget, Obama planed to slash the exploding federal deficit in half by 2013, the end of his first term.

    He has said that he will try to achieve the goal by scaling back Iraq war spending, raising taxes on the wealthiest Americans and eliminating wasteful public programs.

Editor: An