Yesterday afternoon, the Senate approved a bloated $3.1 trillion budget, $21 billion above the President’s request. Despite the looming entitlement crisis and a deficit of nearly half a trillion dollars, the budget does nothing to address these issues, not to mention that it allows more than 20 million taxpayers to be burdened by the alternative minimum tax (AMT) after next year, it fails to renew President Bush’s tax cuts, doesn’t even point out the need for earmark reform, nor does it take into account the more than $50 billion dollar GI Bill, which will likely be approved by Congress sometime next week.
If it wasn’t apparent before, it is crystal clear now; the current majority is more willing to pass on existing problems to the next administration and Congress rather than work towards a solution now.