$2.9 Trillion budget

While some of us make due with slightly smaller budgets, President Bush has released his 2008 budget for the United States which reaches 2.9 trillion in spending. (Yes, that is trillion, not billion. In case you are wondering that is 2,900,000,000,000.)

The full budget is online from the Office of Management and Budget. There are a number of additional features on the White House's Fiscal Year 2008 page. One of the more interesting is the State by State budget information, which talks about how the federal government budget effects your state. On a local front the budget has "$28 million to begin renovations to upgrade existing laboratory space at the main lab facility for the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Boulder, Colorado."

Congress has just received the budget, but they already have a few comments. For a good bipartisan comparison, take a look at the Senate Budget Committee web site.

If you go to the Democratic side you will find a statement from Chairman Kent Conrad in which he claims the "President’s budget is filled with debt and deception, disconnected from reality, and continues to move America in the wrong direction" (read the full statement online).

On the Republican side you will find Ranking minority leader Senator Judd Grey's statement which claims "The President’s budget reflects his goals of continuing robust economic growth, protecting the nation from harm and spending wisely on domestic priorities" (read the full statement online) .

If you are feeling a little nervous, don't worry both statements end with a statement that both Senators look forward to working towards a bipartisan solution on these issues.

If you want to read an analysis of the budget, without reading the hundreds of pages of small print, check out the Washington Post's "Bush sends Congress $2.9 trillion budget plan."

Want to find more budget resources? Check out the library's guide.