Today in Washington D. C. - March 20, 2009

The Senate is in recess until 2 PM on Monday. A vote on cloture on the motion to proceed to H.R. 1388, a bill which would significantly expand AmeriCorps and boost its funding, is expected.

Yesterday, the Senate passed H.R. 146, a public lands bill which would designate over 2 million new acres of protected wilderness around the country. Prior to passage, the Senate rejected two more amendments to the bill from Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK). Also yesterday the Senate confirmed Elena Kagan to be Solicitor General by a vote of 61-31.

While Democrats continue to point fingers at each other as they try to untangle the AIG bonus fiasco, attention is likely to return to the Obama budget beginning later today when the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) is expected to release new estimates of the debt burden in the $3.55 trillion proposal. Politico reported yesterday that “the White House is being warned to expect a grim set of deficit projections, adding well over $1 trillion on top of the red ink already conceded in President Barack Obama’s 10-year spending plan.”

And Reuters reports, “U.S. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad said on Thursday he expects federal deficit spending will be about $1.6 trillion greater over the next ten years than President Barack Obama’s budget plan forecasts.” Conrad noted that his projections come from Democrat committee staffers.

The Los Angeles Times writes today, “That bad news, combined with other recent developments, portends a rocky road for the Obama budget, which was initially hailed by congressional Democrats for promoting such liberal priorities as expanded access to health insurance and curbs on global warming.” Yet the LA Times notes it has come under increasing fire from Democrats. “In the three weeks since the budget was unveiled, fiscally conservative Democrats have raised concerns about proposed spending increases. Leaders of the House and Senate tax-writing committees have criticized some of Obama’s proposed tax increases on wealthier Americans. . . . Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), one of about 15 moderate Democrats concerned about Obama’s spending levels, said the White House might have to reassess its priorities in light of the new estimates.”

The budget projects $7 trillion in deficits over the next ten years, but with the news that this may be $1.6 trillion short (which would be equivalent to all federal spending in 1997), it’s going to become even clearer for Americans that the Obama budget plan taxes too much, spends too much, and borrows too much.

Speaking to Politico, Sen. Judd Gregg (R-NH), ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee said, “The CBO re-score is going to be an eye-opening event for a lot of people who want to finesse this. You cannot finesse the coming fiscal calamity we are facing, the size of the debt in the out years and the size of the deficit in the out years.”

Of course, the AIG mess also continues to embroil Democrats. Both The Hill and the AP discussed the frenzy of buck-passing between various Democrats in Congress and the Treasury Department yesterday. According to The Hill, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi blamed the Senate, while Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid referred questions to Senate Banking Committee chair Chris Dodd (D-CT). But the AP writes that Dodd in turn blamed Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner but Geithner’s staff pointed back at Dodd, with a spokesman saying, “Treasury staff raised a general concern about broad legal challenges to the retroactivity of the [Dodd] amendment, including constitutional claims, but did not insist on any changes or receive any resistance from the senator’s staff.”

Maybe by the time we know what the full cost of Obama’s budget is Democrats will have figured out who dropped the ball on the AIG issue.

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