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Senate Dems unveil budget blueprint
BY ANDREW TAYLOR, Associated Press
WASHINGTON -- Senate Democrats unveiled a largely stand-pat budget Wednesday that calls for $1 trillion in new tax revenues over the coming decade but actually increases spending, while protecting the party's domestic policy priorities and adding $4 trillion more to the national debt than a slashing alternative from House Republicans.
The plan by Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray, D-Wash., blends about $1 trillion in modest cuts to health care providers, the Pentagon, domestic agencies and interest payments on the debt with an equal amount in new revenue claimed by closing tax breaks.
But because Democrats want to restore $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts over the same period -- cuts imposed by Washington's failure to strike a broader budget pact -- Murray's blueprint increases spending slightly when compared with current policies.
The White House says the Senate Democrats' new budget is a "concrete plan" that will boost economic growth and shrink deficits.
White House press secretary Jay Carney said the proposal also would make needed investments in education, manufacturing and roads and bridges, and require tough spending cuts that won't disproportionately affect seniors and the middle class.
On the other side of Capitol Hill, House Budget Committee Republicans barreled ahead with an entirely opposite approach that whacks spending by $4.6 trillion over the coming decade, promises sweeping cuts to Medicaid and domestic agencies while setting a path to balancing the government's books within 10 years.
The House panel was expected to approve the plan, by Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., late Wednesday by a party-line vote; Murray's plan was set to be approved by the Democratic-led Senate panel today. Both measures face floor debates next week.
Even as Democrats controlling the Senate and the strongly conservative GOP House moved in divergent directions, President Barack Obama again traveled to the Capitol to open a dialogue with lawmakers. Wednesday's meeting was with House Republicans, who welcomed the gesture even as they noted that deep divisions remain.
"We've got a big difference between us," Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., said. "He supports higher tax revenues."
But Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said Obama told Republicans that he also supports a revised inflation adjustment called "chained CPI" that would curb cost-of-living increases in Social Security benefits and increase tax revenue through slower indexing of income tax brackets. He also supports "means testing" for Medicare benefits that would require higher-income beneficiaries to pay more for their health care.
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