WASHINGTON: The United States Senate on Saturday adopted a proposal that would modestly reduce debt through higher taxes for top earners as part of the first budget plan the Democratic-controlled body has passed in four years.
Bloomberg reports that the $3.7tn budget proposal highlights differences between Democrats and Republicans over taxes, spending and the size of government. The vote clears the way for the next phase in Washington's budget battle, which will probably revolve around the need to raise the US debt limit. Federal borrowing authority is scheduled to expire May 19.
"The Senate passed a budget plan that will create jobs and cut the deficit in a balanced way," the White House said in a statement. "Like the president's plan, the Senate budget cut wasteful spending, makes tough choices to strengthen entitlements, and eliminates special tax breaks and loopholes for the wealthiest Americans to reduce the deficit."
The Senate plan mostly uses the savings to finance the repeal of $1.2tn in automatic spending cuts known as sequestration, leaving little for additional deficit reduction. It differs markedly from the measure adopted by House Republicans earlier last week, which proposes to balance the budget within a decade through steep cuts to a number of politically sensitive programs.
The two chambers probably would not agree on a single plan, with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Nevada Democrat, saying he sees little reason to bother with a conference committee, in which lawmakers are supposed to work out their differences.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman and Washington Democrat, Patty Murray said budgets are about far more than numbers on a page, "they are about the values and priorities of the American people," he said
Senators voted 50-49 to endorse a fiscal 2014 measure that proposes to raise $1tn by clamping down on tax breaks for the wealthy while paring spending on defense, farm subsidies and other programs. The vote capped a session lasting into early morning to consider scores of amendments.
Four Democratic senators voted against the final version: Max Baucus of Montana, Mark Begich of Alaska, Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mark Pryor of Arkansas. All are up for re-election in 2014.
Baucus, the Senate Finance Committee chairman, voted against the Senate plan because it raises taxes too much and opposes the House plan because it cuts entitlement spending too much, according to The Hill newspaper, which cited an aide. Pryor issued a statement saying "this budget fails to strike the right balance between cutting our spending and setting up a path for future job creation and economic growth," the Hill reported.
Alabama Senator and Republican on the chamber's Budget Committee, Jeff Sessions, said honest people can disagree on policy, but there really cannot be disagreement on the need to change a nation's budget course.
Action was completed at 4:56 a.m. New York time, after 13 hours of a rapid-fire series of votes in a chamber where what comes before lawmakers usually is determined by extensive negotiations. Under special rules, senators were allowed to seek an unlimited number of amendments to the fiscal blueprint.
