Next year's budget is sinking in deep red ink
Quote:
The chance that the majority Democrats will pass a budget this year is “fading,” Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said Tuesday.
He is pessimistic because House Democrats don’t know whether they want to pass a resolution that would officially acknowledge the certainty of big deficits. House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.) and other Democrats have indicated that would be a tough vote in an election year.
One option Conrad said his staff is now looking at is a deeming resolution.
Like an actual budget measure, the deeming resolution would set the discretionary spending levels for the next fiscal year. But unlike a budget resolution, the deeming resolution would allow Democrats to avoid laying out their fiscal policies for 2011 and beyond.
Centrist House Democrats have been wary of voting for a budget resolution because it’s likely to project large deficits. Republicans have hammered Democrats over the budget deficit, which they blame on Democratic spending.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that President Barack Obama’s policies would lead to deficits averaging nearly $1 trillion over the next decade.
The House and Senate together have failed to pass a final budget resolution on numerous occasions, including in 1998, 2002, 2004 and 2006. Republicans held both chambers in those Congresses with the exception of 2002, when Democrats controlled the Senate.
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The fiscal irresponsibility of this is just astounding. Didn't they just pace a law recently that there would be no additional spending that would increase the deficit? How the heck is that gonna happen if they don't create a budget first?
Oi'!