Under the U.S. Constitution the federal budget legislation
originates in the House of Representatives and is then sent to
the Senate with both bodies resolving any differences before
sending the final budget to the president for signature or
veto.  When President Clinton left office in 2001, the federal
government showed a budget surplus of $127 billion.  But after
11 years of tax cuts, foreign wars, deficit spending and massive
stimulus and bailout programs related to the national economic
meltdown, the budget deficit for the federal fiscal year that
ends Sept. 30, 2012 is forecast to hit $1.1 trillion.  During
that time the gross national debt, which includes things like
IOUs to the Social Security trust fund, has grown from $5.7
trillion to nearly $16 trillion, according to the U.S. Treasury
Department.  (The public debt held by the public and foreign
governments has grown from $3.4 trillion to $9.7 trillion.)  The
Simpson-Bowles deficit-reduction commission recommended a mix of
broad budget cuts and reven