Budget, spending measures at a glance
Congress moved on several fronts Thursday, advancing budget and spending measures for this year and beyond.
CATCHALL SPENDING BILL
Funds the day-to-day operating budget of Cabinet agencies through Sept. 30 but leaves in place across-the-board spending cuts of 5 percent to domestic agencies and 8 percent to the military. Eases a "readiness" crunch at the Pentagon, among myriad budget changes. Cleared the House for President Barack Obama's signature.
HOUSE BUDGET PLAN
Updated GOP budget for 2014 and beyond from Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin. Nonbinding but sets out Republican vision for balancing the budget in 10 years, through $4.6 trillion in sharp cuts to safety-net programs like Medicaid and food stamps and domestic programs like education, agriculture and law enforcement. Proposes eliminating "Obamacare" health subsidies and leaves $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts in place. Passed House on 221-207 vote.
SENATE BUDGET PLAN
First Senate Democratic budget in four years. Nonbinding but proposes to increase taxes by $975 billion over 10 years and cut spending by $875 billion over the same period - yet uses $1.2 trillion of those anti-deficit steps to repeal automatic spending cuts required by Washington's failure to follow up 2011 budget and debt pact. Cuts deficit to below 3 percent of gross domestic product, producing annual deficits in the $400 billion-$500 billion range. Vote expected late Friday or early Saturday.
Associated Press
WASHINGTON - Moving on two fronts, the Republican-controlled House on Thursday voted to keep the government running for the next six months while pushing through a tea-party flavored budget for next year that would shrink the government by another $4.6 trillion over the next decade.
The spending authorization on its way to the White House for President Barack Obama's signature leaves in place $85 billion in spending cuts to the Pentagon and domestic programs. The result will be temporary furloughs for hundreds of thousands of federal workers and contractors over the next six months and interrupted, slower or halted services and aid for many Americans.
The nonbinding GOP budget plan for 2014 and beyond calls for a balanced budget in 10 years' time and sharp cuts in safety-net programs for the poor and other domestic programs.
Thursday's developments demonstrated the split nature of this year's budget debate. Competing nonbinding budget measures by each party provide platforms for political principles; at the same time Capitol Hill leaders forged a bipartisan deal on carrying out the government's core responsibilities, in this case providing money for agencies to operate and preventing a government shutdown.
The GOP budget proposal, similar to previous plans offered by Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., demonstrates that it's possible, at least mathematically, to balance the budget within a decade without raising taxes. But to do so Ryan, his party's vice presidential nominee last year, assumes deep cuts that would force millions from programs for the poor like food stamps and Medicaid and cut almost 20 percent from domestic agency budget levels assumed less than two years ago.
Ryan's plan passed the House on a mostly party-line 221-207 vote, with 10 Republicans joining Democrats against it.
Meanwhile, the Democrat-controlled Senate debated for a second day its first budget since the 2009 plan that helped Obama pass his health care law. A vote on the Senate measure is expected late today or early Saturday.