Election-Year Budget Battle Looms

[Terri]

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS
Associated Press
March 5, 2008

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Democrats are offering hefty spending increases for domestic programs as they draft an election-year budget plan that still promises surpluses within four years and assumes many of President Bush's signature tax cuts will die.

The roughly $18 billion in spending increases for domestic programs funded by Congress each year are included in a budget plan to be unveiled Wednesday by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1. A party-line committee vote to approve the plan is expected Thursday.

Democrats argue that their plan -- which has large boosts for energy, education and transportation programs -- could be paid for by closing loopholes and improving tax collections. Republicans say their promises of budget surpluses rely on tax increases on upper income taxpayers and many small businesses.

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[GearMaven]

Thanks, Terri. The budget scenarios with a Democrat in the WH keep me up nights. Let's keep a close eye on this decision-making and get our emails off when we see something we don't like. Newt's newsletter just made me aware of the John Boehner's GOP Leader Blog where I could see that on March 5:

3:35 P.M. - House Budget Committee Democrats just rejected a GOP amendment to establish an immediate moratorium on all taxpayer-funded earmarks, voting down the proposal on a party line vote of 21-16. Every single Democrat voted against it; all 16 Republicans supported it.

That'll get my emails flying to those Budget Committee Dems!

[candles]

Democrats are offering hefty spending increases for domestic programs as they draft an election-year budget plan that still promises surpluses within four years and assumes many of President Bush's signature tax cuts will die.

Dems will do anything for votes. Are these the same Dems that thought the tax cuts would raise the deficit, when the truth is we are paying off the debt ahead of schedule.

[schillerbjr]

It is almost hard to differentiate between the DEMOCRATS today and those running the former
Soviet Union in the Reagan Era!! They look the
same!!