WASHINGTON, April 11 - The U.S. House of Representatives on Friday passed a $2.2 trillion federal budget projecting record deficits while paving the way for up to $550 billion in new tax cuts sought by President George W. Bush. The Senate was also scheduled to take up Congress' 2004 tax and spending blueprint later on Friday despite lingering doubts as to whether Republican moderates, who have sought smaller tax cuts, would back the plan there.
House and Senate Republican leaders earlier on Thursday crafted an unusual deal allowing them to finish the budget this week, as required by law, while delaying the bitter and unresolved fight over the size of the tax cuts. The budget only lays out the framework for Congress' actual tax and spending decisions later in the year. But making room in it for the tax cuts will allow them to be passed later by a simple majority in the 100-member Senate rather than the 60 votes usually required for controversial legislation.//www.bloomberg.com