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The article reports that the U.S. Congress, in its last major act of the 2007 session, sent U.S. President George W. Bush the most sweeping spending bill in 20 years, a $555 billion omnibus appropriations package containing the 11 fiscal 2008 spending bills that had not been enacted. $70 billion was included in funding for a war that the Democratic majority opposes, and less spending than most Democrats desired for domestic programs.

The article reports that the U.S. Congress has sent President George W. Bush the fiscal 2008 Defense spending bill, which he is expected to sign, and the Labor, Health and Human Services (HHS) and Education bill, which he is expected to veto. It cites the reasons why Bush has threatened to veto the bill. The Labor-HHS conference report would provide $606.4 billion and contains over 2,200 earmarks totaling more than $1 billion. Senator Jim DeMint opposes the provisions that would make it easier for lawmakers to unofficially request special projects.

The article discusses the approach taken by the U.S. Democratic majority in Congress to compromise with Republican officials on the 2008 budget. The congressional agenda from May to October 2007 will include the 12 yearly appropriations bills that fund the government's discretionary programs. It cites some congressional Democrats's disapproval of their leaders' aim to reform spending priorities. It states the senators who pose challenges to the Senate's spending bill process.

The article reports that President Barack Obama focuses on funding for the discretionary spending while giving little attention to the increasing debt of the nation. It mentions the 447 billion dollars proposed funding for holding non-security discretionary wherein half of the budget is set to the national security account and defense. It states that the proposal has triggered criticism due to the unequal funding for programs and agencies.

The article focuses on the revelation made by President Barack Obama on his 2010 annual budget worth $3.7 trillion in the U.S. Peter R. Orszag, White House budget director notes that the Obama administration might plan to propose additional reductions in the fiscal budget spending. Obama administration officials illustrate that the proposed cuts serve as the beginning of their initiative to decrease wasteful spending and enhance the health care system.

The article focuses on the resolutions drafted by the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, setting the spending limits for the fiscal 2010 budget. Senate Budget Chairman Kent Conrad says some of the tax and spending proposals have to be reduced due to the struggling economy. Meanwhile, both presented higher tax revenue figures through an alternative minimum tax (AMT) that will affect more taxpayers in the coming years.

The article reports that the U.S. House of Representatives has submitted a $410 billion discretionary omnibus spending measure. This measure include all the domestic spending that Democrats were unable to enact in 2008. It offers $31 billion more than the total discretionary funding in 2008 versions of the nine bills in the package. The spending bill would also provide increases for several programs in education, infrastructure and scientific research.

The article reports that House Democrats unveiled their $825 billion economic stimulus plan, which includes spending on infrastructure, health care and education and wide-ranging tax cuts. Although the plan drew immediate criticism from Republicans, Democratic leaders are hopeful that they can get the package through Congress by mid February of 2009. The author states that U.S. President Barack Obama hopes that the final legislation will create as many as 3 to 4 million jobs.

The article focuses on the 2009 budget proposals being pushed by members of the U.S. Democratic Party. According to the author, the budget resolutions adopted both the U.S. Lower House and U.S. Senate contain few significant differences that the Democrats must resolve in conference. He notes, however, that there is little chance for the Democrats to attain any objectives while U.S. President George W. Bush is in office, who vowed to veto spending bills that goes beyond his budget request.

The article focuses on the decision of U.S. congressional Democrats to combine the 11 unfinished fiscal 2008 spending bills into one omnibus package. The Democrats agreed to adhere to U.S. President George W. Bush's bottom line on appropriations for fiscal 2008. Once the defense spending is removed, the omnibus package is expected to come close to the amount proposed by the Bush administration.

The article discusses the U.S. Senate passing of a $459.6 billion fiscal 2008 Defense spending bill while allegedly avoiding Iraq-related policies. Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee chairman Daniel K. Inouye initiated the passing of the bill (HR 3222) by opposing an amendment that would have set a timeframe for U.S. troop withdrawal from Iraq. It says that the U.S. government has threatened to reject the appropriations bill if it will limit the war policies of President George W. Bush.

The article reports on the doubts and criticisms faced by U.S. President Barack Obama's formation of a new deficit and debt commission. The commission, which would be headed by former Senator Alan K. Simpson and former Clinton White House Chief of Staff Erskine Bowles, is seen by the Congress as incomplete as it lacks lawful authority that is needed to push its recommendations to the Congress. Despite this, Obama is committed to pursue the commission, emphasizing its benefits to U.S. economy.

The article reports that the Democrats create a six-bill omnibus spending package which reflects the priorities determined by U.S. President Barack Obama's administration. It states that the left spending bill for the Defense Department would be excluded from the omnibus. It mentions that the omnibus with more than 2,400 pages provides 446.8 billion in discretionary funds. Moreover, five bills would fund domestic programs like the Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (House Rule 3082).

The article reports on the budget resolution of the Congressional Democrats for the 2009 appropriations, health care, and tax battles in the U.S. The budget resolution is very important to U.S. President Barack Obama since it is the starting point of what he wants to do. It includes a proposal to overhaul the health care policy of the country, a discretionary request for defense programs, and a discretionary spending for the annual appropriations bill.

The article discusses budget deficit issues that need to be addressed by the next U.S. president, who will be inaugurated in January 2009. The rapid increase in federal spending on entitlements, particularly Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, has increased the budget deficit. The aging population and rising health costs has caused health to account for 43 percent of all federal spending in 2008. Other key factors for the rising deficit are financial bailouts, natural disasters and wars.

The article reports on the appropriations bills that are worked by the House Appropriations subcommittees for fiscal 2009 in the U.S. On June 13, 2008, House Appropriation chairman David R. Obey made public the spending allocations which would allow the appropriators to recommend up to $1 million in discretionary spending. The House Appropriations Committee is expected to finish marking up all its bills by July 23 of the same year.

The article reports on the adoption of a conference report by the U.S. House and Congress on a budget blueprint in June 2008 to allow House appropriations subcommittees to begin working on fiscal 2009 spending bills. A budget resolution has been adopted which sets the parameters for congressional consideration of tax and spending bills. It also sets the cap for non-emergency discretionary spending provided through 12 annual appropriations bills.

The article reports on the plan of U.S. Democrat legislators to introduce a single omnibus spending bill in the week of December 3, 3007. Democrats are expected to assemble another omnibus package that adheres to President George W. Bush's overall spending request if he vetoes the plan. Among those that will possibly be included in the spending package are $30 billion in war funding, $7 billion in emergency spending, and more than $2 billion for federal aid programs.

The article reports that the U.S. Congress has cleared resolution H J Res 52 to fund federal government programs through November 16, 2007. The House has passed all 12 of its annual spending bills but the Senate has passed only four. The Democrats want to spend additional $23 billion apart from the $933 billion that U.S. President George W. Bush has requested for the 12 spending bills. Bush has threatened that he will veto seven bills due to their funding levels.

The article reports on the accord reached by the Democratic and Republican parties on earmarks which allowed spending bills to start moving in the U.S. House on June 14, 2007. It is stated that House Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey of Wisconsin yielded to a Republican assault on proposed delay in making pet projects public. The deal also resulted in the completion of discussions of the Homeland Security and Military Construction-Veterans Affairs (HR 2642) bills.

The article reports on the response of the members of the U.S. House of Representatives to ban the earmark process. It mentions that both the Republicans and the Democrats try to outflank each other on the issues banning such appropriation method. It cites that such response emanated after House Appropriations Chairman David R. Obey announced that his committee would not approve any request for earmarks for fiscal year 2011 projects.

The article reports on the clearance of the bill House Joint Resolution (H.J. Res) 45, which will increase the U.S's borrowing limit. It says that the bill would raise the borrowing capacity of the U.S. Department of the Treasury by 1.9 trillion dollars. The bill went through two sets of voting where all Republicans have voted nay to both but still lost. It states that former U.S. President Bill Clinton vouched for the proposed budget enforcement tool to help provide surpluses during his term.

The article focuses on the approval of a stopgap measure, known as a continuing resolution (CR), that will fund government agencies by the U.S. House on September 25, 2009. Included in this 4.7 billion U.S. dollars are 1.4 billion U.S. dollars for the House and 926 billion U.S. dollars for the Senate. It is noted that this bill prevents the country's highway programs from expiring.

The article reports on the approval of the bill for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and other agencies by the U.S. House Financial Service Committee for the fiscal year 2010. It mentions that the bill provides $24.2 billion in discretionary spending, about 7% more than was provided in the fiscal year 2009 and slightly less than the government has requested. In addition, the agency is setting up a campaign with conservatives over a private-school voucher program in the District of Columbia.

The article reports on the proposal that the U.S. President Barack Obama has released at a White House in Washington D.C. event on June 9, 2009. The president has claimed that there is a need to pay for the entitlement increases as well as tax cuts. Further, the proposal is considered to be a fig leaf to appease those claiming of support on fiscal discipline but continued to vote for more spending.

The article offers information on the details of the proposed increase on discretionary budget for the U.S. Treasury Department, the Executive Office of the President, the Consumer Produce Safety Commission, among others, as requested by President Barack Obama. The amount of $24.2 billion was requested by Obama in discretionary spending for fiscal 2010. Specifically, the budget for the Treasury Department will receive $13.4 billion which is an increase of 6 percent.

The article reports that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the federal budget deficit of the U.S. can increase to at least $1.2 trillion for the fiscal year ending on September 30, 2009. Nancy Killefer, a former Treasury Department official, was named as the new chief performance officer who will coordinate with the Obama administration in streamlining decision-making and identifying wasteful spending.

The article reports that U.S. President George Bush signed into law on September 30, 2008 a year-end appropriations package that keeps most government agencies funded at fiscal 2008 levels through early March 2009. The bill also includes full-year fiscal 2009 funding for military construction and the Departments of Defense, Veterans Affairs and Homeland Security.

The article reports on the postponement of the annual appropriations, for defense and for military construction and Veterans Affairs, of United States until 2009 . The annual Military Construction-Veteran Affairs measure made it and was passed in the House on August 1, 2008. Moreover, whether to continue funding programs at fiscal 2009 levels or provide extra funds for certain programs are yet to be decided by the Democrats.

The article looks at efforts by Democrats in the U.S. Congress, led by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and House Majority Leader Steny H. Hoyer and Appropriations Chairman David R. Obey, to delay the approval of spending bills until the installation of a new U.S. president in 2009. Statements from Senate Appropriations Chairman Robert C. Byrd and Obey are included.

The article reports that the United States Senate has passed a supplemental war spending measure. However, the bill is expected to face challenges in the House over domestic spending that Republicans want to remove and Democrats want to offset. The bill includes $165 billion in war funding but also contains about $10 billion in additional discretionary spending that President George W. Bush did not request.

The article reports on the move of U.S. House Democratic leaders to delay plans to address the war supplemental spending bill in May 2008 after conservative members of their caucus objected to domestic spending in the bill that was not paid for by budget cuts in other areas. It notes the parliamentary delaying tactics employed by House Republicans. Democrats aim to use the fiscal 2008 Military Construction-Veterans Affairs appropriations bill as the shell for the war spending measure.

The article reports that the U.S. Congress has defeated attempts in March 2008 to impose a one-year moratorium on controversial projects. This happened, the author claims, despite the move by lawmakers to reduce the number of earmarks in the appropriations. The Senate, he adds, defeated by a vote of 29-71 an amendment introduced by Jim DeMint of South Carolina. In the Lower House, meanwhile, the one-year ban on earmarks was defeated 157-263.

The article reports on the passage by the U.S. Senate of its version of the fiscal 2008 Commerce-Justice-Science spending measure on October 16, 2007. Funding for state and local law enforcement is contained in the bill and is a major factor in the Democrats' strategy for challenging President George W. Bush on their differences over spending for domestic programs.

The article reports on the legislation sent by the U.S. Senate to President George W. Bush that would raise the government's debt limit to nearly $10 trillion. Lawmakers reacted after Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. warned congressional leaders that the existing debt limit would be reached by October 1, 2007. According to Democrats, the increase in the debt limit is an evidence that the fiscal policies of the government were reckless.

Provides information on the legislative proposals of U.S. President George W. Bush that have not been included in House appropriations bills. Airline passenger security fees in the Homeland Security spending bill; Veterans' medical care in the spending bill for Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs; Food inspection fee in the draft Agriculture spending bill.