Washington update.

Congress Adopts FY 2010 Budget Resolution

On April 29, the House and Senate voted to adopt the $3.56 trillion fiscal year 2010 congressional budget resolution, S.Con.Res. 13. Both votes were largely along party lines. The resolution calls for $1,086 trillion in discretionary spending, $10 billion less than proposed by President Obama in his February budget outline, and would reduce the deficit from an estimated $1.2 trillion in 2010 to a projected $523 billion in 2014. While nonbinding, the budget resolution is a critical document because it sets a framework for future tax and spending decisions.

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The budget resolution includes the controversial reconciliation instructions that would allow Obama's proposed health care overhaul to move through Congress without the threat of a Senate filibuster. Republicans had objected to including reconciliation language, which Democrats said would not be utilized unless it was the only way to pass the legislation. In response to fiscal conservatives, Congress agreed to support PAYGO (pay-as-you-go) budget rules to control the deficit. PAYGO rules require that increases in entitlement spending or tax cuts that would increase the deficit cannot be approved unless they are offset by spending cuts elsewhere or by tax increases. More information is available at http://budget.senate.gov/democratic; the resolution's text is available at http://thomas.loc.gov.

The budget preserves the president's budget priority of health care reform; it includes a deficit-neutral reserve fund to allow for a major health reform initiative and follows up on the health care investments made in the economic recovery package. Supporters note that these investments are intended to help bend the cost curve on health care and to put the nation's health care accounts on a sustainable course.

The conference agreement includes a total of $384.3 billion in new budget authority and $388.9 billion in outlays for FY 2010, and $1.9 trillion in budget authority and outlays over five years. The agreement includes significant increases for community health centers, health professions and national health services corps within the Health Resources and Services Administration, and provides new resources for public health, including programs focused on addressing health promotion and disease prevention. Additional funding is included for the Indian Health Service to help meet needs of American Indians and Alaskan natives.