A quick update on McCain’s budget. His office hasn’t sent out any related materials yet, and haven’t released a statement, but a quick perusal of its terms over at Thomas reveals a few interesting details.
McCain’s budget calls for the extension of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts; it decreases non-defense discretionary spending outlays from FY 2010-2014; it calls for $686,128,000,000 in defense budget authority for FY 2010, increasing to $726,167,000,000 by 2019; it calls for allowing $50,000,000,000 in loans for constructing new nuclear power plants under the Department of Energy’s Innovative Technology Loan guarantee Program; and much, much more.
That said, it’s still a less radical document than the House GOP Budget, which was widely derided yesterday by Democrats, many of whom laughed it off as an April Fool’s Day joke. I’ve placed a call to Judd Gregg’s office to see if anyone there wants to comment on either the existence or the merits of McCain’s proposal. Gregg, who’s the ranking member on the committee of jurisdiction, had publicly advised against an alternative budget and McCain very blatantly went around him.
