House, Senate budgets vastly different, prompting fears of deadlock

WASHINGTON - The House and Senate passed vastly different budgets for fiscal 2006 on Thursday, raising doubts about their ability to find common ground on domestic spending reductions and tax cuts.

In a blow to President Bush's efforts to cut the deficit in half by 2009, the Senate on Thursday voted to delay reductions in Medicaid. But in a surprise turnabout, the Senate expanded the size of the president's proposed tax cuts to more than $130 billion over five years.

The votes further distanced the Senate from the budget that the House passed Thursday. The Medicaid vote in particular riled House Republicans, who see this year as the biggest opportunity to rein in some of the federal government's biggest programs.

Though no lawmaker was ready to predict a stalemate, the lack of a budget would seriously undermine Republican efforts to extend some of Bush's first-term tax cuts and to reduce spending.

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http://www.realcities.com/mld/krwashington/11165244.htm

Thank you. Amen.

:)

Let the Republicans roast on their own fire. Anyone up for some s'mores?