Washington Digest
Congress passes budget blueprint
Last updated Saturday, June 7, 2008 6:37 PM CDT in News
By Steve Tetreault
The Morning News
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WASHINGTON - Congress last week adopted a $3.03 trillion budget plan for next year, although decisions on how to carry out significant parts of it may be delayed.
The House voted 214-210 largely along party lines for the budget, which was written by Democrats and reflects their priorities on spending and taxes.
The Senate passed the budget by a 48-45 vote.
The budget resolution is a blueprint that Congress tries to follow when it writes appropriations and tax bills later in the year.
But since the Democrats' vision is at odds with President Bush, experts say it is likely that major choices will be deferred until after the November elections or into next year.
The budget bill, for instance, calls for Congress to spend $24.5 billion more than the $991 billion that Bush had requested for discretionary programs. Those include defense and most domestic programs, but not Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid where spending is set automatically.
The budget resolution shows the government running a surplus in fiscal 2012. The projection is built on assumptions that spending for the Iraq war will drop substantially over the next few years, and that a number of tax cuts implemented by Bush will be allowed to expire at the end of the decade.
Democrats gave themselves credit for passing a budget, which was not the case in recent years when Republicans ran Congress.
But Republicans criticized the budgets for taking spending to new levels while failing to control the growth in Social Security and other automatic spending programs.
Fourth District Rep. Mike Ross, D-Prescott, 2nd District Rep. Vic Snyder, D-Little Rock, and 1st District Rep. Marion Berry, D-Gillett, voted for the bill. Third District Rep. John Boozman, R-Rogers, voted against it.
In the Senate, Sens. Blanche Lincoln and Mark Pryor, both D-Ark., voted for the bill.
Climate Bill
Senate Democrats withdrew a major bill that would have required manufacturers and utilities to come up with big reductions in greenhouse gas emissions after Republicans blocked it for most of a week.
The bill would have capped by 2050 emissions of carbon dioxide and other gases that contribute to global warming by up to 70 percent below current levels.
Businesses would seek to meet the caps by installing clean air equipment, and buying and selling allowances to meet interim goals along the way. Money raised from the allowance program would be invested in consumer rebates, public transit and energy efficiency.
Democrats said the plan that was proposed by Sens. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., John Warner, R-Va., and Joseph Lieberman, a Connecticut independent, would make a dent in global warming while reshaping the economy and creating new jobs.
Senate Republicans and the White House attacked it on cost, saying it would stifle industry and increase gasoline prices by 53 cents a gallon by 2030.
Debate on the bill never got fully under way as senators argued over procedure and then over an unrelated dispute on judicial nominations.
On Friday, a motion to end a Republican filibuster failed, 48-36. Sixty votes were needed to move forward, and the bill was subsequently withdrawn.
Lincoln and Pryor voted to end the filibuster.
Green Schools
The House voted 250-164 for a bill authorizing $6.4 billion to build and repair environmentally friendly schools.
Schools receiving money would have to be constructed to "green standards" that include the use of recycled materials and strategies that minimize energy costs while incorporating renewable energy sources like solar and wind.
Supporters said the money would help modernize schools. Critics said the money would be better spent in other education programs.
The White House threatened a presidential veto. It said that school building is a state and local responsibility "and should remain there."
Ross, Berry and Snyder voted for the bill. Boozman voted against it.
Federal Land
The House turned away a bill to renew federal payments to counties with large tracts of federal land.
The bill would have reauthorized the Safe Rural Schools Program, whose payments offset the fact that communities cannot tax the government for owning federal property.
The White House threatened to veto the bill, which would have made changes in funding formulas and paid for them by levying fees on oil and gas producers in the Gulf of Mexico.
The vote was 218-193 for the bill, but it failed. The reason was that the bill was debated under fast track rules that limited debate and amendments, thus requiring a two-thirds majority to pass.
Ross, Snyder and Berry voted for the bill. Boozman voted against it.
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