Democrats put their stamp on US budget
Congress's plans would require offsets for new spending and postpone renewing some Bush tax cuts.
from the April 2, 2007 edition
Page 2 of 3
Education, veterans priorities
On the spending side, both the House and Senate budget plans breach Mr. Bush's proposed $929.8 billion discretionary spending cap for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. Democrats propose more spending on education, veterans' healthcare, and other domestic priorities, such as home-heating assistance and support for an expansion of the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP).
While the president's budget adds $1 billion to Title 1, the federal program to help low-income students, it also cuts nearly that much out of other education programs. House Democrats propose $8 billion in new funding for education and $5.4 billion over the level of current services for veterans' healthcare.
The Senate's version of a fiscal year 2008 budget resolution passed on March 23 by a vote of 52 to 47. Two Maine Republicans, Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, voted with Democrats to back the plan.
Once the House and Senate versions are reconciled, the budget resolution guides spending bills for fiscal year 2008. Programs included in this plan are also protected from a Senate filibuster, and therefore can pass the Congress by a simple majority, instead of the 60 votes often needed to send bills to the president's desk.
House Democrats say they have waited since the Clinton administration for "a seat at the table" in budget negotiations. "When we last, as Democrats, had a hand in really making the budget – and that was a year before President Bush came to office – we had surplus of $236 billion," said Representative Spratt.
"Our first objective was to put the budget back in balance," he said. The House Democrats' plan projects a $153 billion surplus in 2012. Senate Democrats say they will use that surplus in 2012 to help pay for extending some of the Bush tax cuts – a promise that is not binding on future Congresses.
Both Mr. Spratt and Sen. Kent Conrad (D) of North Dakota have long railed against deficit spending in the Bush years, and the failure of Congress to prepare for the retirement of the baby boomers. They say the Bush administration has dug the nation a big hole in deficit spending, and it will take five years to get the budget back into balance.
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