San Francisco Chronicle Examines Political Risks In President Obama's FY 2010 Budget Proposal

President Obama "is risking his presidency on the most ambitious remake of the federal government since Ronald Reagan" with his $3.6 trillion fiscal year 2010 budget, which includes his plan to make a $634 billion down payment on health care reform, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

According to the Chronicle, Congress for decades has been unable to address many of the issues on which Obama's budget focuses, including health care. Charles Konigsberg, chief budget counsel at the Concord Coalition, said, "This is the most ambitious budget I've ever seen in 25 years," adding, "Doing all of these [agenda items] simultaneously is an enormous task." According the Chronicle, "For liberals who fretted just a month ago that Obama was acting suspiciously centrist, his $3.6 trillion budget is a call to arms" that is "a carefully woven matrix that tackles everything from global warming to health care with new spending and taxes."

Robert Reischauer, president of the Urban Institute and former director of the Congressional Budget Office, said, "It's a terribly ambitious agenda," adding, "At 30,000 feet, covering the uninsured and moderating cost growth in health has near unanimous support, as does reducing greenhouse gases and dealing with climate change. But when pen is put to paper to specify how these goals are achieved, it inevitably involves redistributing resources and power." Julian Zelizer, a political historian at Princeton University, said addressing health care among other issues all at the same time is "a huge political risk." He added, "In 2004, we forget, Bush looked as strong as any president" until he took on one issue -- Social Security -- and failed.

While moderate Democrats "are already backing away from tax increases," Republicans "have declared war on them," the Chronicle reports. Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said, "It's very classic redistribution of wealth," adding, "Lyndon Baines Johnson would blush to put this budget up." In an effort to garner support for the budget, liberal groups have vowed to spend up to $7 million on an advertising campaign. The Chronicle reports, "This is only a taste of the brawl that will commence when actual bills on health care" and other issues are proposed.

According to the Chronicle, "top Democratic aides conceded that Obama will need every ounce of his popularity to make his vision reality," as "even Senate Republicans who say they want to work with him on health care and energy have profound ideological differences that will be tough to bridge." In addition, "Obama's plans could also be overwhelmed by the banking mess," according to the Chronicle. The Chronicle reports that if polls are accurate, the economic recession has "altered public attitudes about government, be it the appetite for health care reform, regulation of banks or higher taxes on the wealthy" (Lochhead, San Francisco Chronicle, 3/8).

Congress Passes, Obama Signs Continuing Resolution
The House on Friday voted 328-50 to approve a continuing resolution (H.J. Res. 38), and the Senate unanimously approved the measure by voice vote (AP/Washington Post, 3/6). Obama then signed the measure, which will fund at current levels the budgets of most Cabinet departments and federal agencies until March 11, 2009, in to law. (White House press release, 3/6).

The measure was needed because Congress has not yet approved the FY 2009 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill and the eight other FY 2009 appropriations bills. Since October 2008, the federal government has operated under a continuing resolution that funded most Cabinet departments and federal agencies at FY 2008 levels until March 6 (Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, 3/2).

A vote on an omnibus appropriations bill (HR 1105) that includes the FY 2009 Labor-HHS-Education appropriations bill and the eight other unapproved FY 2009 appropriations bills would happen in the Senate at the earliest on Tuesday. The House has already approved the measure (AP/Washington Post, 3/6).


Reprinted with kind permission from kaisernetwork. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at kaisernetwork/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

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