US House Passes FY09 Budget Plan W. House Opposes

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday approved a fiscal 2009 budget plan that attempts to produce a surplus by 2012 while rejecting many of President George W. Bush's domestic spending cuts.

On a partisan vote of 212-207, the House approved the non-binding $3 trillion budget blueprint, which will help guide congressional committees that write spending and tax bills. Fiscal 2009 begins on Oct. 1.

The Democratic plan would spend $22.4 billion more than Bush requested for next year for domestic programs and would let some of Bush's tax cuts expire after 2010. The White House warned Bush would veto bills that spend more than he requested in February for domestic programs and the president wants permanent extension of his tax cuts.

House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt, the South Carolina Democrat who crafted the measure, accused Republicans of offering an alternative budget that he said would pay for continuing the Bush tax reductions with "emasculating cuts to (domestic) programs that are critically important."

The House defeated the Republican version before approving the Democratic majority's budget.

Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the senior Republican on the House Budget Committee, said the Democratic budget that passed "raises taxes; $683 billion on everybody, not just rich people."

The election-year budget plan projects a $340 billion deficit in fiscal 2009, which would transform into a $178 billion surplus in 2012.

But the surplus projection might not be realistic.

For example, like Bush's budget proposal, the House-passed plan fails to include any costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, beyond a $70 billion estimate for next year that is likely to be substantially below what will be needed. No war funds are included beyond 2009.

There is widespread support in Congress for eventually extending at least some of Bush's tax cuts, which could make it harder to balance the budget by 2012.