Congress approves budget blueprint
$3.1 trillion plan a domestic boost
WASHINGTON - Congress yesterday gave final approval to a $3 trillion spending plan that proposes modest increases for domestic programs such as education, energy, and veterans benefits - and marks the first time in eight years that lawmakers have managed to adopt a budget in an election year.
Democrats hailed the feat as "a demonstration of our ability to govern effectively," in the words of House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland.
Republicans acknowledged the accomplishment, which eluded Congresses under their control in 2006, 2004, and 2002, as well as in 1998. But they blasted Democrats for raising spending on government agencies to historic levels and for failing to slow the rampant growth of Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare, potentially adding trillions to the national debt.
"It's a huge missed opportunity," Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, senior Republican on the House Budget Committee, said during House debate. "We shouldn't be doing this to our children."
The committee chairman, John M. Spratt Jr., a South Carolina Democrat, fired back that the blueprint aims to balance the budget by 2012, erasing years of deficits racked up under a Republican president. "President Bush told the country we could have it all: guns, butter, and tax cuts, too, and never mind the deficits," Spratt said. "It takes a long time to turn this battleship around, but that's what we do in this budget."
The spending plan squeaked through the House on a vote of 214 to 210, as 14 Democrats voted with a united GOP in opposition. Earlier this week, the Senate gave its approval to the nonbinding resolution, which does not go to the president for his signature but sets targets for a dozen annual appropriations bills.
Because Bush has vowed to veto appropriations bills that exceed his spending requests, Democrats are considering delaying passage of most of the bills until a new president takes office in January.
Under the budget framework adopted yesterday, congressional leaders would increase spending in the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1 by about $21 billion over Bush's request, with total spending on government agencies expected to top $1 trillion for the first time. The extra funds would go to education and renewable energy programs, and transportation infrastructure. Military veterans would get about $3.3 billion more than Bush requested, with much of the money targeted for healthcare.
