The Federal budget passed pointing the way toward major legislation later this year on health care, energy and education.

The president’s said that there were four basic principles of the budget that must be adhered to:

• “It must reduce our dependence on dangerous foreign oil and finally put this nation on a path to a clean, renewable-energy future.
• “This budget must renew our nation’s commitment to a complete and competitive education for every American child.
• “We need a budget that makes a serious investment in healthcare reform that will bring down costs, ensure quality, and guarantee people their choice of doctors and hospitals.
• “Finally, this budget must reduce deficits.”

The budget will cut the deficit nearly two-thirds by 2013. It cuts taxes for middle class families by $1.5 trillion.
Congresswoman Chellie Pingree said, “With this long term economic plan we are making the tough choices to turn our economy around, create jobs, reform health care, move toward energy independence, and invest in education.”

This long term economic plan ushers in a new era of honesty in budgeting.

“It has been a long time coming, but we finally will have a budget that tells the American people exactly where we are without budgetary gimmicks hiding the real costs facing our country,” said Congressman Mike Michaud. “The budget does not hide the true cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it does not make false promises about balanced budgets in the short term. But this budget takes a critical step in the right direction by providing a long-overdue, honest accounting of our nation’s finances.”