WASHINGTON -- The U.S. House cleared a combined House-Senate Republican budget this evening, piloted by U.S. Rep. Tom Price, R-Roswell.
The Georgia delegation broke entirely on party lines: No Republicans were among the 14 who strayed to vote no. Every one of the chamber's Democrats voted against it.
If the Senate clears the same bill next week, it will be the first time since 2009 that Congress has agreed on an official budget.
Here's more backstory from the Associated Press:
Instead, the House-Senate budget framework increases spending in the near term by padding war accounts by almost $40 billion next year. And Senate Republicans skittish over politically dangerous cuts to Medicare blocked a House move that called for giving subsidies to future retirees to purchase health insurance on the open market instead of a guaranteed package of Medicare coverage.
Under Washington's arcane budget process, lawmakers first adopt a budget that's essentially a visionary document and follow it up with binding legislation to set agency budgets, cut or raise taxes, and make changes to so-called mandatory programs like Medicare and food stamps, whose budgets run as if on autopilot.
Republicans tout the long-term economic benefits of a balanced budget and say it's better to tackle the long-term financial problems of programs like Medicare and Medicaid sooner rather than later.
Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price, R-Ga., said the GOP plan "will not only get Washington's fiscal house in order but pave the way for stronger economic growth, more jobs and more opportunity. It invests in our nation's priorities, ensures a strong national defense and saves and strengthens and protects important programs like Medicare and Social Security."
But Democrats say the GOP plan unfairly targets the middle class and the poor while leaving in place lucrative tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.
"The Republican budget moves this country in exactly the wrong direction," said Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who Thursday announced a run for the Democratic presidential nomination. "At a time of massive wealth and income inequality, it gives huge tax breaks to millionaires and billionaires, while making devastating cuts to education, Medicare, affordable housing and prescription drug coverage."
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