House Democrats Strip $100 Billion From Obama's Budget Proposal
President Barack Obama may have tried to convince Americans at his press conference last night of the necessity of his $3.6 trillion budget, but one group of listeners wasn't completely sold: House Democrats. Although their version of the spending bill, which they released today, mirrored many of the president's wishes, they also slashed his proposed expenditures by more than $100 billion. A Senate committee seems poised to make similar cuts.
Provisions that the House Budget Committee Democrats removed included the administration's request to extend its middle-class tax cut, equivalent to $400 for individuals and $800 for couples, beyond 2010. They also eliminated the $215 billion included for further financial bailouts, a proposal that came under heavy fire after last week's outrage over AIG's $165 million in retention bonuses.
The version also doesn't include funding for healthcare reform or for a cap-and-trade system to address climate change, two of the administration's signature proposals. However, the bill backs the goal of the president's initiatives by creating funds that would be kept in reserve for those programs, leaving the details up to the appropriate congressional committees instead.
That the proposal reflects some differences shouldn't come as a surprise to the president, who told reporters at last night's televised press conference that "we never expected, when we printed out our budget, that they would simply Xerox it and vote on it." Even so, he said he's "confident" that the ultimate version would reflect his administration's main principles of investing in healthcare, energy, and education.
One of the main drivers behind the budget's downsizing was a report made by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office that said that Obama's proposal would create almost $9.3 trillion in debt over the next 10 years. That was $2.3 trillion more than the administration had estimated. The disagreement stemmed from the CBO's assumption of a growth rate of 2.2 percent, while the administration forecast, with more optimism, a growth rate of 2.6 percent.
Given the disputes, the president agreed that the government would have to "make some tough budgetary choices" and said that "we will continue to go line by line through this budget." But, he added, "here's what I do know: If we don't tackle energy, if we don't improve our education system, if we don't drive down the costs of healthcare, if we're not making serious investments in science and technology and our infrastructure, then we won't grow 2.6 percent. We won't grow 2.2 percent. We won't grow."
The Senate Budget Committee is working on its own proposal today—which explains why Obama, in his first visit with the Senate since his inauguration, headed to Capitol Hill to whip up support for his budget this afternoon.
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