House, Senate To Vote on Budget Resolutions Without Proposed Spending Reductions for Medicare, Medicaid

Debate on the House (H. Con. Res. 312) and Senate (S. Con. Res. 70) fiscal year 2009 budget resolutions began on Wednesday, as Democrats "trumpeted surplus-producing budget plans" and Republicans "seized on looming tax increases," the AP/Philadelphia Inquirer reports.

According to the AP/Inquirer, Democrats in both chambers have proposed similar $3 trillion budget resolutions that would "produce sizable surpluses in a few years and provide generous increases for many domestic programs, but only by assuming major tax increases when President Bush's tax cuts expire in about three years." Both budget resolutions would exclude $196 billion in spending reductions for Medicare and Medicaid proposed by Bush. Republicans have proposed an alternative budget plan that would continue "Bush's income tax rate cuts and tax breaks for married couples, people with children, on investments and for those inheriting multimillion-dollar estates," but the "price for such generosity is harsh: cuts in Medicare, housing, community development" and Medicaid, the AP/Inquirer reports.

The House plans to vote on the budget resolution on Thursday (Taylor, AP/Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/13). The Senate also plans to vote on the budget resolution on Thursday, with Democratic presidential candidates Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.) and presumptive Republican nominee Sen. John McCain (Ariz.) expected to return to Washington, D.C., for the vote (Taylor, AP/Houston Chronicle, 3/13). However, Republicans have "warned that votes could last well into Friday," according to CQ Today (Clarke/Higa, CQ Today, 3/12).

Federal Budget Deficit
The federal budget deficit in the first five months of FY 2008 reached $263.3 billion, a 62% increase from the same period in FY 2007, as record expenditures exceeded record revenue, the Department of Treasury announced on Wednesday, the AP/Detroit Free Press reports. The White House predicts that the budget deficit will increase to $410 billion this year.

The largest expenditures this fiscal year to date include HHS programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid, at $292.9 billion; Social Security at $270.5 billion, the military at $247.6 billion and interest on the national debt at $198.5 billion (Aversa, AP/Detroit Free Press, 3/12).