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On Thursday, the House narrowly passed it fiscal year (FY) 2008 budget resolution by a vote of 216-210. The $3 trillion budget plan provides about $25 billion more in discretionary spending than requested by the President and about $7 billion more than the Senate's budget resolution (approved on March 23, 2007). The House budget would require strict compliance with the budgetary pay-as-you-go rule and projects a surplus of $153 billion by FY 2012. However, Republicans argued that the Democrats' plan assumes large tax increases and offered an alternate plan that would have reduced entitlement spending by almost $280 billion over the next five years. The Republican proposal was ultimately defeated. Like the Senate budget resolution, the House measure would establish a reserve fund of up to $50 billion over five years for the reauthorization of the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). House and Senate leadership hope to have a final FY 2008 budget resolution conferenced by early May. Also this week, the Senate approved a $123 billion supplemental spending bill passed by the House last week. Although the bill is meant to primarily fund the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, it also includes $745 billion in SCHIP funding for FY 2007. The supplemental funding for SCHIP is meant to assist those states experiencing shortfalls in FY 2007. The House and Senate bills have yet to be reconciled. The President has threatened to veto the final bill because both versions currently contain troop withdrawal timelines.
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