Congress heads into a new budget season with an unusually broad disparity of views on the way forward, signaling that “getting to yes” on a budget deal could be especially difficult this year....
>>>Congress heads into a new budget season with an unusually broad disparity of views on the way forward, signaling that “getting to yes” on a budget deal could be especially difficult this year.
In his State of the Union address, President Obama offered a bifurcated vision: a five-year freeze on discretionary federal spending, expected to save $26 billion over the five years, but also new investments in education, renewable energy, infrastructure and basic research. Net spending: to be determined in the president’s FY 2012 budget, to be released next month.
House Republican leaders are calling for even deeper spending cuts, beginning in the current fiscal year. On Tuesday, the House voted to reduce non-security related discretionary spending to fiscal 2008 levels. Fifteen moderate Democrats joined Republicans in this otherwise party-line vote, which passed 256 to 165.
**The excerpt is taken from the Christian Science Monitor article, "Federal budget battle: Can Congress avoid government shutdown?" written by Gail Russel Chaddock, linked below. Click through to read more about the possible headway and unfortunate obstacles to settling the budget deficit.**
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2011/0126/Federal-budget-battle-Can-Congress-avoid-a-government-shutdown
