President Obama has met a key deadline for only the second time in his six-year tenure in the White House by delivering to Congress this week a budget plan – for $4 trillion.
Making good on his SOTU declarations, Obama’s plan increases taxes on the wealthy and details a spending spree aimed at more giveaways to “middle-class” Americans.
As one might expect, the budget is sure to run into the wall of Republican opposition as the party begins debating its own budget proposals in each chamber. Vibrant budget debates in the Senate, in particular, have been overdue for years during Democrat control when the upper house failed to deliver any budget for multiple sessions.
First up on the budget docket in Congress will be the funding of the Department of Homeland Security, which will run out of money this month. Republicans in the House have already passed a bill that provides ongoing funds to DHS but with an amendment that halt’s Obama’s executive action on immigration.
