Getting your player ready...
WASHINGTON — Senate Democrats decided Thursday not to release their spending plan to counter the budget blueprint approved last month by House Republicans, saying they will wait to see whether talks at the White House produce a compromise plan for reining in the national debt.
Democrats said they are close to agreement on a spending plan that would reduce borrowing by more than $4 trillion over the next decade, with about half the savings coming from higher taxes. That would offer a sharp contrast to the GOP budget, which relies entirely on deep cuts in spending.
But Senate Budget Committee chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said he would “defer” action “because of the high-level bipartisan leadership negotiations that are currently underway.”
