The Hill has more details of Kent Conrad's budget...

[flpoljunkie]

Conrad budget cuts $800B from Defense
By Erik Wasson
07/09/11 12:07 PM ET

The secret Senate Democratic budget resolution relies heavily on $800 billion in cuts to the Pentagon.

Overall security spending is cut by less than $900 billion in the budget which Senate leadership is still mulling making public.

This compares to $178 billion in security cuts in the House-passed budget resolution, only $78 billion of which is not reinvested in the defense budget. President Obama in his April deficit reduction framework called for $400 billion in security cuts over 12 years.

The budget ends Bush era tax rates for families making over $1 million per year and for individuals making over $500,000 per year. It also recommends ending tax expenditures but leaves it up to the Senate Finance Committee to decide which tax breaks to end, including the popular home mortgage interest deduction.

The budget cuts $350 billion from domestic programs over ten years and counts $600 billion from reduced interest on the national debt.

Social Security is untouched, while $80 billion is cut from other entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

The budget reaches primary balance by 2014 and achieves over $4 trillion in deficit reduction.

Senate Democrats want the White House to weigh the plan as an alternative to a possible compromise emerging out of this weekend's budget summit which could have deeper cuts to entitlements, including Social Security, and which would have less revenue increases.

http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/budget/170537-conrad-budget-takes-big-bite-out-of-defense

[bluestateguy]

1. Worth a serious look

If Republicans don't like ending the Bush taxcuts then they can restore them all if they win everything in 2012.

[flpoljunkie]

2. They reportedly turned this offer down in the December negotiations that extended all Bush tax cuts

[gateley]

3. Sounds good to me, but the Pentagon is a Sacred Cow (as opposed

to SS and Medicare :mad:).

The Dems have submitted several budgets/job "producing" bills, etc., all shot down and never to see the light of day. It's not like we're not TRYING, but this is what it looks like when we let them take over the House. In all fairness it may have been shot down when we had it, but maybe it would have gotten some press and the Representatives and Senators would have heard from their constituents?

[flpoljunkie]

4. Empires don't come cheap.

[Palmer Eldritch]

5. What's this about big Defense Cuts?!? I thought it was all being stripped out of SS and Medicare?

Right?!?

:sarcasm:

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. Seems a very reasonable budget

which means the nutty Republicans won't touch it. I fear that even those who want to appear sane and keen to reach a solution won't, either, because they are still dominated by the military-industrial doodah.