Blunt's Budget Appeal

No matter who holds the White House or controls Congress, it's always easy to find someone griping about the president's budget.

Most of the complaints are partisan, but some are practical, if also political.

House Minority Whip Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) lodged one grievance in the latter category on Wednesday. His complaint: The administration included money for the alternative minimum tax in next year's spending blueprint, making it harder for the GOP to wage its annual argument to extend protections for middle-income taxpayers.

The White House included revenue from the AMT to help balance the budget over five years in the non-binding – and highly speculative – document. Its inclusion makes it harder for Republican to defend the annual extension from balanced budget concerns in the fall when Congress will invariably pass legislation to extend those protections – or incur voter wrath on the campaign trail.

For those reasons, Blunt, the lead Republican vote-counter in the House, had urged the White House to take this money out of the budget.

"It's foolish to include the money every year," Blunt said Wednesday. "It was not the right thing" to include the tax revenue in the budget blueprint for 2009. 

But, as is so often the case in this town, the administration chose convenience over partisan loyalty to their GOP colleagues on Capitol Hill. After all, it was hard enough to cut the programs the White House already planned to slice from the budget. Where would they find the money – or savings – to replace billions from the AMT (that history tells us the federal government will never collect)?