The Democratic-controlled US Congress on Wednesday approved a US$3.4 trillion compromise budget plan for the 2010 fiscal year, clinching a big victory for President Barack Obama on his 100th day in office, but with no Republican support.
The non-binding plan sets parameters for spending and tax legislation for the upcoming fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1 and mirrors most of what Obama had sought, but Republicans blasted it for exploding debt and undermining the ailing economy.
Obama has argued that the budget and the US$787 billion economic stimulus package were necessary to heal the economy and reverse what he says has been neglect of programs such as education and healthcare.
“We have to lay a new foundation for growth, a foundation that will strengthen our economy and help us compete in the 21st century and that’s exactly what this budget begins to do,” he told an evening news conference.
Democratic Senator Kent Conrad, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, told reporters: “For every one of his [Obama’s] key priorities, reducing dependence on foreign energy, making possible healthcare reform, a focus on excellence in education, none of those things could have been pursued effectively without this budget.”
The House approved the Democrats budget resolution without any Republican support on a vote of 233-193, while the Senate voted 53-43, also without any Republican support. Seventeen House Democrats and four Senate Democrats also voted against the budget plan.
“We have spent in the first 100 days US$12 billion a day, we are running up the deficit and the debt at an alarming rate and we’re growing the size of the government in a way that future generations are going to have to pay for it,” Republican Senator Lindsey Graham said.
The resolution includes language that would enable the Democrats to expedite under special rules the consideration of healthcare reform legislation despite fierce Republican opposition to such a route. Democratic leaders have said they will try the normal legislative route first.
The budget forecasts US$1.2 trillion in red ink for fiscal 2010 before falling to US$523 billion by 2014. House Democratic leaders had to make some promises to assuage fiscally conservative members of their party who were worried about rising deficits amid a deep recession.
In one bit of intrigue, Senator Arlen Specter, who switched parties to become a Democrat on Tuesday in a move aimed at winning re-election next year, voted against the budget plan. He voted against the original version earlier this month too.
Republicans seized on new data that showed the US economy shrank at a 6.1 percent annual rate during the first quarter of this year, steeper than expected. They argued that the data, coupled with some tax hikes and aggressive spending in the budget, would make the situation worse.
“This budget creates so much uncertainty on the part of investors, on the part of families, I don’t see how we’re going to work our way out of this economic doldrums,” said Representative Eric Cantor, a member of the House Republican leadership.
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