Washington – Congress gave final approval Thursday to a $2.9 trillion budget plan that promises big spending increases for education and health care and a federal surplus in five years.
The Senate’s 52-40 vote probably sets up veto confrontations with President Bush over spending increases and the fate of many of his expiring tax cuts.
Shortly before the Senate vote, the House passed the measure by a 214-209 vote without a single Republican voting for it.
The nonbinding measure is not sent to Bush for his signature or veto. Rather, it sets parameters for Congress to follow when writing tax and spending legislation later this year.
The blueprint is for the budget year beginning in October. It also makes a statement about Democrats’ differences with Bush and was seen as a critical test of Democrats’ ability to govern.
The budget plan seeks to bolster domestic programs whose budgets the president has curbed. It also would let expire tax cuts that have greatly benefited upper-bracket taxpayers.
The measure would permit increases averaging 5 percent for domestic programs funded by the 12 annual appropriations bills. That includes education, community development grants, veterans’ medical care and health insurance for children of the working poor.
Bush wanted to effectively freeze such programs and has pledged to veto spending bills that break his budget goals.
Democrats said their budget would put the government $41 billion in the black by 2012 after steady deficits since 2002.
They said the measure also would reverse Bush’s clampdown on domestic agencies’ annual budgets passed by Congress.
Republicans criticized the Democratic plan as a major tax increase. They noted it projects a surplus in 2012 by assuming tax cuts on income, stock dividends and capital gains expire as scheduled at the end of 2010.
Democrats promise to extend tax relief aimed at the middle class. Republicans had hoped for permanent tax cuts when GOP lawmakers fashioned them in 2001, but an obscure Senate rule prevented that. Republicans never held later votes to make all the cuts permanent, despite Bush’s annual pleas.
