Last week, President Obama released his last budget proposal. However, it got the cold shoulder from Congress with Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) even going so far as saying that the budget is “a progressive manual for growing the federal government at the expense of hardworking Americans.” In fact, Congress has announced it has no plans to even consider it and the Budget Committees won’t entertain hearings from the White House on it, which is a break in tradition.
Congress has an abbreviated schedule this year, with the election looming. So, it will be interesting to see if they can prepare and negotiate their own budget, or if we can expect a less-controversial “Continuing Resolution” from the current year budget come this summer/fall.
Summer Minnick is the Director of External Relations and Federal Affairs. She can be reached at [email protected] or 517-908-0301.