US Senate Panel Passes Budget Plan

by Glen Shapiro, LawAndTax-News.com, New York

26 April 2010

On April 22, the Senate Budget Committee approved, by a 12-10 vote, a USD3.7 trillion budget plan that aims to reduce the US deficit to 3% (down from around 9.8% for 2010) of GDP by 2015.

In a statement following the Committee’s approval, Conrad said that the plan “significantly cuts spending and deficits and begins to put the nation back on a sound fiscal course. It cuts spending as a share of the economy by 11%. It cuts the deficit as a share of the economy by 70%. It will bring the deficit down to 3% of GDP by 2015, a level economists believe will stabilize the federal debt relative to GDP. And in dollar terms, it cuts the deficit by USD671bn more than President Obama’s budget.”

“A budget is about setting priorities and this plan does so. It includes a net tax cut of $780 billion, focused largely on the middle class. It fully funds the President’s defense and war funding requests. And it invests in education and energy, to help lay the foundation for long-term economic security."

"Importantly, to help address the long-term fiscal imbalance, the budget includes a deficit reduction reserve fund that ensures any savings produced from the President’s bipartisan fiscal commission cannot be spent and are used only to reduce deficits and debt."

“This budget is fiscally responsible and provides a solid framework for accelerating our nation’s economic recovery and restoring our fiscal strength. I look forward to taking this budget up on the Senate floor,” Conrad concluded.

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