AP: Analysis: Congress maps rough path to Obama goals

[steven johnson]

Congressional budgetary negotiations are much like giving birth or making sausage -- ugly to watch but worth the effort. Republicans wanted big tax cuts and spending curbs. As Tip O'Neil said, "All politics are local." And Robert Byrd noted, "What's one man's pork is another man's job."

Nothing ever changes completely.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama emerged from this year's congressional budget debate with a half-victory: a green light to pursue an overhaul of health care, accompanied by a rebuke over how to pay for it.

Obama's plan to tackle global warming fared worse. Nine Democratic senators broke with him on a symbolic but politically resonant vote to cut inheritance taxes.

In short, Obama's Democratic allies embraced providing health care to the uninsured, boosting education and promoting clean energy. But the second part of the equation — finding billions of dollars to finance his agenda without further exploding the deficit — suffered repeated setbacks in the Senate.

Still, Obama's allies look upon the budget dance so far as a victory illustrated by the sizable votes this past week backing the companion House and Senate plans: a 233-196 tally in the House and a 55-43 vote in the Senate, where only two Democrats defected.

Analysis: Congress maps rough path to Obama goals