The House and Senate Budget Committees have both completed two very different budget resolutions. Both were passed on partisan votes and neither contains any provision for paying for a war with Iraq.

Yesterday, the Senate Budget Committee approved approved its fiscal 2004 draft resolution on a 12-11 party-line vote. The Senate budget is more generous than the House in the near term for discretionary spending, allocating $784 billion for fiscal 2004. It would balance the budget by 2013, but bases them on unrealistic assumptions about spending levels, including for defense.

The Senate Budget Committee markup went through smoothly without the addition of any Democratic amendments of substance, except for one added by Seantor Robert Byrd (D-West Virginia). Byrd's amendment would allow for an increase emergency spending for homeland defense programs to win approval by a simple majority vote in the Senate instead of being subject to a point of order requiring 60 votes to override. Senator Judd Gregg (R-New Hampshire) voted with the Democrats as the committee adopted the amendment, 12-11,

The House plan calls for a 1% across-the-board cut in non-defense, non-homeland security spending, would provide $775 billion. The House plan also calls for several committees to produce bills that would cut billions from mandatory programs which is causing tremendous dismay to key House Republicans.

House Budget Chairman Jim Nussle said, that in devising the plan, he came under pressure from fiscal conservatives that showed a push toward regaining a balanced budget. He was forced to re-write this 10-year budget plan after some members of the delegation were concerned that the budget appeared to call for politically damaging cuts to Medicare and Medicaid. Under a manager's amendment, The Ways and Means Committee is instructed to combine its cuts in entitlement programs, such as Medicare, with a $400 billion prescription drug benefit as it produces a budget reconciliation bill this summer. The Energy and Commerce Committee would also play a role in drafting the prescription drug measure.

The Senate is scheduled to take up the budget on March 17th. It will face an amendment backed by several moderate Republicans to limit tax cuts to $350 billion over 10 years.