Senate panel approves budget resolution

The Senate Budget Committee Thursday approved the fiscal 2011 budget resolution, 12-10, after approving an amendment by Budget Committee ranking member Judd Gregg, R-N.H., to create a point of order requiring 60 senators to vote in favor of spending more than 20 percent of savings found under reconciliation on new programs.

Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said he is unsure when the resolution would reach the floor because it is not clear how long it will take the Senate to pass financial regulation legislation.

While Conrad declined to say that he has the votes to pass the resolution, he said he feels relatively confident about its chances. "I feel good about it," he said.

Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., joined all Republicans in voting against the resolution.

Gregg's amendment passed 16-6 with several Democrats voting in favor of the proposal, including Conrad, who has supported the idea in the past.

The amendment is designed to help ensure that 80 percent of the savings from the reconciliation instructions in the resolution -- to the Finance Committee to save $2 billion -- are used for deficit and debt reduction.

"It means reconciliation will be used for the purposes of deficit reduction and not for creating new programs," Gregg said.

Gregg said he believes the recently passed healthcare law expanded an existing entitlement program and created a new one and his amendment would prevent that under the reconciliation instructions in the fiscal 2011 budget resolution.

After the markup, Conrad said he agrees that most of the savings under reconciliation should be used for deficit reduction and he also sees the reconciliation instructions in the resolution as a possible vehicle for long-term deficit reduction, particularly if a presidential deficit-cutting commission fails to come to an agreement on recommendations to Congress.

"I am very focused on this long-term deficit and debt situation," Conrad said.

Other Democrats, who were concerned about how the Gregg amendment would affect their agenda, opposed the proposal.

Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., said, "It's tough enough for us to get budget issues done. I don't know, at this point, how the reconciliation instruction[s] will be used, if they are used at all. But I think we are imposing just one more restriction on a process that is already very difficult."

The committee approved, 20-2, an amendment by Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse, D-R.I., to create a reserve fund to allow for spending for the SEC, FEC and other agencies to regulate involvement of corporations in elections. The amendment comes in the wake of the Supreme Court's decision in Citizens United v. FEC that allowed unlimited corporate spending on policial campaigns.

The panel also rejected an amendment by Sen. Mark Begich, D-Alaska, to establish a reserve fund that would eliminate spending authority for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, except for aid to help improve lending to small business.

Meanwhile, House Majority Leader Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Thursday he hopes the House can pass its budget resolution before the Memorial Day recess.

"I think it is important that we pass the budget," Hoyer said in a colloquy with House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., adding, "I'm working towards that end."