The Rocky Mountain Collegian

Issue date: 3/26/09 Section: News

Media Credit: Associated Press Peter Orszag appears before the Senate Budget Committee to defend President Barack Obama's federal spending plan for FY2010, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday.

WASHINGTON - Congressional Democrats advanced budget outlines Wednesday that largely mirror President Barack Obama's tax and spending plans while imposing marginal changes to tame ballooning deficits.

"This budget will protect President Obama's priorities - education, energy, health care, middle class tax relief and cut the deficit in half," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said after the president met privately in the Capitol with rank-and-file Democrats.

Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said the purpose of the president's visit was not to round up votes to assure passage of the plan. "He came here to show leadership and to show we're together on his priorities," the senator said.

Conrad indicated changes had been made to reflect concern about the deficit, the most notable of which was to assume the president's middle class tax cut would expire after 2010. Future attempts to extend the tax reductions would have to be paid for from elsewhere in the budget to avoid adding to the red ink, he said.

Obama came to the Capitol as committees in the House and Senate settled down to review similar budget plans, with votes on the floors of both houses expected by the end of next week.

A version put forward by the House Budget Committee foresees a $598 billion federal deficit after five years. And there would be a $1.2 trillion red-ink figure for the 2010 budget year, as opposed to $1.4 billion under Obama's plan as scored by the Congressional Budget Office.

Obama, after describing his tax and spending plan Tuesday night as essential for economic recovery, traveled to the Capitol for a meeting with Senate Democrats on the issue.

Budget director Peter Orszag said the companion fiscal blueprints in the House and Senate would bolster administration efforts to give a higher priority to education and clean energy programs as well as taking into account Obama's desire to overhaul health care.

In a briefing for reporters in advance of Obama's Hill visit, Orszag said the plans were "fully in line with the president's key priorities." Obama has said that he understands the process will require considerable give and take, but that he doesn't want to lose sight of the overall goals. He characterized them as "98 percent the same as the budget proposal the president sent up in February."

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools