President Obama's budget doesn't have enough support from lawmakers to pass, the Senate Budget Committee chairman said Tuesday.
Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said he has spoken to enough colleagues about several different provisions in the budget to make him think Congress won't pass it.
Conrad urged White House budget director Peter Orszag not to "draw lines in the sand" with lawmakers, most notably on Obama's plan for a cap-and-trade system to curb carbon emissions. "Anybody who thinks it will be easy to get the votes on the budget in the conditions that we face is smoking something," Conrad said.
White House press secretary Robert Gibbs, when asked Tuesday about the Democratic criticism of the budget, told reporters that it wasn't unusual. He noted that lawmakers and the president often have competing agendas. "I don't think, ultimately, the criticism is surprising," Gibbs said. "That certainly happens and is all part of a process."
Conrad joined Sen. Judd Gregg (N.H.), the top Republican on the Budget Committee, and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in criticizing the administration's cap-and-trade proposal for not doing enough to counterbalance increases in energy costs that will be felt by consumers and companies, especially those in energy states such as North Dakota.
Conrad said that it would be a "distant hope" to expect the climate change plan to pass unless it includes help for industries that would be hit hard by limits on carbon emission production.
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