On a partisan vote of 212-207, the House on Thursday approved the non-binding US$3 trillion (S$4 trillion) budget blueprint, which will help guide congressional committees that write spending and tax bills.

Fiscal 2009 begins on Oct 1.

The Democratic plan would spend US$22.4 billion more than Mr Bush requested for next year for domestic programmes and would let some of Mr Bush's tax cuts expire after 2010. The White House warned Mr Bush would veto bills that spend more than he requested in February for domestic programmes and the president wants permanent extension of his tax cuts.

House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt, the South Carolina Democrat who crafted the measure, accused Republicans of offering an alternative budget that he said would pay for continuing the Bush tax reductions with 'emasculating cuts to (domestic) programmes that are critically important'. The House defeated the Republican version before approving the Democratic majority's budget.

Representative Paul Ryan of Wisconsin, the senior Republican on the House Budget Committee, said the Democratic budget that passed 'raises taxes; US$683 billion on everybody, not just rich people'. The election-year budget plan projects a US$340 billion deficit in fiscal 2009, which would transform into a US$178 billion surplus in 2012.

But the surplus projection might not be realistic.

For example, like Mr Bush's budget proposal, the House-passed plan fails to include any costs for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, beyond a US$70 billion estimate for next year that is likely to be substantially below what will be needed. No war funds are included beyond 2009.

There is widespread support in Congress for eventually extending at least some of Mr Bush's tax cuts, which could make it harder to balance the budget by 2012. -- REUTERS