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Thursday, April 14, 2011

China: Democrats unveil budget

People's Daily

U.S. House Democrats unveil alternative budget plan

U.S. House Democrats on Wednesday unveiled a budget plan for the next fiscal year that would reduce the federal deficit over 10 years by 1.2 trillion dollars more than President Barack Obama's budget proposal.

Chris Van Hollen, ranking Democrat in the House Budget Committee, rolled out the plan, saying it "reduces the deficit responsibly." The plan serves as an alternative to House Republicans' budget proposal released earlier this month.

Under Obama's budget request for the 2012 fiscal year, the federal deficit would be cut by 1.1 trillion dollars over the next decade. This reduction was dwarfed by the amount envisioned in the Republican plan that claims to reduce deficits by 4.4 trillion dollars compared to the president's budget.

While Republicans have made every effort to secure security funding despite massive overall budget cuts, Democrats believe " all areas of the budget must be examined to put our budget back on a sound fiscal path," including defense funding.

Democrats aim to spend 308 billion dollars less on security and defense compared to the president's request over the next decade. It also reduces overseas contingency funding by 309 billion dollars.

Another major difference with the Republican plan is Democrats insist that deficits should be cut through both lowering expenditures and raising tax revenues, and tax cuts for the nation 's wealthiest should in no way be extended.

The Republican budget plan, called "The Path to Prosperity," is expected to get a vote at the lower chamber later this week. The plan would reform Medicaid and Medicare, repeal and defund healthcare law, and reduce taxes.

Source: Xinhua
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/7349794.html

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