Budget maintains ‘constitutional propriety’: Congress

August 25th, 2009 Congress projects smaller deficit than White HouseWASHINGTON — Congressional budget analysts project a cumulative $7 trillion deficit from 2010-2019, a figure roughly $2 trillion less than the one projected by the White House budget office. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, in a report that came out on the same day as the White House midyear budget review, said the deficit this year will total $1.6 trillion and that putting the nation on a sustainable fiscal course will require a mix of lower spending and higher tax revenues than the amounts now projected.

July 6th, 2009 NEW DELHI - The ruling Congress said Monday the budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee was progressive, but the opposition parties termed it as "routine and inconsequential. "Budget 2009 is progressive, inclusive, growth oriented and balanced.

July 6th, 2009 RAIPUR/NEW DELHI - Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Raman Singh Monday termed the union budget as "anti-poor" and aimed to serve the Congress party's "political interests". Singh, who is in New Delhi, told reporters that the budget presented by Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee in parliament "is anti-poor.

July 3rd, 2009 HYDERABAD - Andhra Pradesh Friday conveyed its unhappiness to Railways Minister Mamata Banerjee over the raw deal the state has received in the 2009-10 railway budget. The Congress government in the state feels that injustice has been done to the state as the budget proposed no new projects for the state except a superfast train between Visakhaptnam and Mumbai and development of Secunderabad and Tirupati railway stations.

July 1st, 2009 NEW DELHI - Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee on Wednesday said that the railway budget would be a "pro-people" budget. "It will be a pro-people budget, a simple budget, people's budget," Banerjee said after an all-party meeting here.

June 28th, 2009 Clinton urges condemnation of Honduran actionWASHINGTON — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton says the action taken against Honduras' president should be condemned by everyone. She says Honduras must embrace the principles of democracy and respect constitutional order.

June 16th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee held pre-budget discussions with leaders of Congress party ahead of the budget for full fiscal year 2009/10 (April-March) that would be presented on July 6. "As a party man I have an obligation to listen to the views of my party leaders.

June 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee Monday said the budget for fiscal 2009-10 to be presented next month would reflect the views of everyone. Emerging from a pre-budget meeting of senior party leaders that he chaired, Mukherjee told reporters at the Congress headquarters here: "We had earlier taken the suggestions of industrialists and trade unions.

May 9th, 2009 Obama's Day: Budget, education, Russian relationsWASHINGTON — President Barack Obama this morning will talk about how much of the taxpayers' money he plans not to spend in the first budget of his young administration. The president has signed off on 121 cuts totaling $17 billion in his 2010 budget.

April 30th, 2009 WASHINGTON - The US Congress Wednesday approved President Barack Obama's $3.56-billion budget prescriptions for 2010 along strictly party lines. The Senate voted 53-43 and the House of Representative 233-193 for the non-binding resolution, which sets out the framework for Congress to consider Obama's legislative priorities, including tax cuts for the middle class and an expansion of social spending in health care, energy and education.

March 11th, 2009 BHUBANESWAR - Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik won a trust vote in the state assembly Wednesday amid a walkout by the opposition protesting the manner in which the motion had been taken up. Despite vociferous opposition from the opposition, Speaker Kishor Mohanty put the motion moved by the government to a voice vote and declared it had won majority support in the 147-member house.

March 4th, 2009 BEIJING - China plans to increase its defence budget by 14.9 percent in 2009, a parliament spokesman said here Wednesday. The planned defence budget is 480.686 billion yuan ($70 billion), Li Zhaoxing, spokesman for the annual session of the National People's Congress (NPC), told a press conference.

February 15th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Monday hailed the interim budget as a 'fine balancing act', and said it will stimulate growth for the country in these difficult times. 'I have no doubt that the continued stimulus for the various flagship programmes of the government will provide relief to all sections - specially the 'aam aadmi' (common man),' the prime minister said in a statement.

February 9th, 2009 SHIMLA - The budget session of the Himachal Pradesh assembly, beginning Feb 12, is likely to be stormy with the opposition Congress vowing to expose the 'failures' of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government. 'The Congress would raise various issues like total failure of public distribution system, deteriorating law and order in the state, and the government taking credit over projects initiated by the previous government,' state Congress president Kaul Singh Thakur told reporters.

February 2nd, 2009 NEW DELHI - The Bharatiya Janata Party has no right to speak about upholding the credibility of constitutional bodies, the Congress said Tuesday, alleging that the BJP had a poor track record on this count. 'The BJP has a history of attacking democratic institutions,' senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal told reporters at his residence.