President Barack Obama's $3.8 trillion budget outline drew bipartisan fire on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, with Republicans complaining it doesn't address deficits soon enough and raises taxes too much. Democrats balked at some of Obama's spending cuts.
It was a rocky reception for the day-old document, underscoring election-year restlessness and rising public anger at bailouts, bonuses and ballooning deficits. The complaints across party lines suggested it could be difficult for Obama to win support for key parts of his budget, even from members of his own party.
Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., called Obama's proposal to cancel NASA's manned moon return program shortsighted. Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., derided his proposal to include Army Corps projects in a proposed partial three-year spending freeze. Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va., said environmental priorities in the budget would unfairly burden coal states such as his.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, under grilling by the Senate Finance Committee, said that despite the lively crossfire he could see a bipartisan consensus building that "deficits matter, tax cuts are not free."
One contentious area was Obama's proposal to draw up to $30 billion remaining in the $700 billion bank bailout program, enacted in 2008, to invest in community banks to encourage them to lend to small businesses. Obama promoted the program on Tuesday at a campaign-style appearance in Nashua, N.H.
New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg argued that money from the Toxic Asset Relief Program that is left over or repaid by banks is by law supposed to go toward paying down federal debt. "It's not for a piggy bank because you're concerned about lending to small businesses," Gregg told White House Budget Director Peter Orszag.
NewsMaxI heard Judge Napolitano say yesterday, that Lord Zero would be breaking the law if he used the TARP funds for anything else than paying down the debt. Not that it would matter to Lord Zero.
