Vote on 2011 Budget; Congress to Vote on 2011 Budget
KAYE: There may be a deal, but it's not a done deal yet. That should happen today if enough lawmakers vote for the six-month federal budget that House and Senate leaders and President Obama agreed to late last Friday. At the time, all we knew was the bottom line, more than $38 billion supposedly cut from what's left of the fiscal year. Later, came the details and growing opposition from conservatives, who want deeper cuts, and liberals, who want fewer. The plan takes almost $3 billion from President Obama's high- speed rail project, another $3 billion from highway construction. The Women, Infants and Children Nutrition Program would lose more than $500 million. And payments to the United Nations would drop by almost $400 million. The Pentagon and Veterans Affairs would actually see increases of almost $6 billion in total. Big as all this is, it's just a prelude to the budget fight that President Obama entered yesterday in a huge way. CNN Senior Political Analyst Gloria Borger joins me to talk about that. Gloria, we are talking fiscal 2012 and beyond, and now we're into the trillions, not the billions.</s>GLORIA BORGER, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, we are into the trillions. And, you know, the president really did enter the fight in a big way. I was kind of surprised though, I have to tell you, Randi, because he was a lot more partisan than we've heard him lately. He's clearly under a lot of pressure from his left flank. The Republicans gave him an easy target in House Budget Chairman Ryan's proposal which calls for Medicare vouchers without tax increases for the wealthy. So we did have a target. But I think, you know, this is such a delicate dance right now, that if the White House was serious about getting some kind of a budget deal done before the election in a big way, they may have really blown their chances in a way yesterday, because Republicans are so angry and so upset about what the president said.</s>KAYE: Yes. And both sides, you know, we hear a lot of, "I'm not going to vote for that, I'm not going to vote for that." I mean, they're calling each other's plan a nonstarter. So how do we get this started? Where do we go from here?</s>BORGER: Well, it's interesting. You know, I think the conversations have already begun. And there are large differences between the parties. And the president laid out a very important plan yesterday and put down his markers on Medicare and on taxes for the wealthy. But the Republicans, honestly, were so upset at the way he did it, that I think it may be hard to get this jump-started again in the long term now. Now, you do have a Gang of Six, a bipartisan group of senators who have been working together for months over there in the Senate, and they're going to come out with a plan. So maybe that will be something that people can coalesce around. But, honestly, I believe we have seen the 2012 campaign take root in Washington, and I think it really started yesterday.</s>KAYE: And so, speaking of 2012, is this debate destined to be settled in the voting booth, then, in November of 2012?</s>BORGER: Well, you know, presidential campaigns should be about big issues. Presidents, we pay our presidents to take positions on big issues. So, of course, the budget debate will continue through the 2012 campaign, and it will be the most important debate that people have. But I think for those of us who are actually thinking -- and I guess I was a little Pollyanna on it -- for those of us actually thinking that they could get something done in a large way before the election, I'm thinking not so much right now.</s>KAYE: Yes. Well, we know exactly what you're thinking, actually, because I've actually read your column at CNN.com. It's a great column --</s>BORGER: Right. Thank you.</s>KAYE: -- great article that you've written, Gloria. And you can also read Gloria's column on the big fight ahead at CNN.com/politics. She puts it all out there. And Gloria, a pleasure talking with you. Thanks again.</s>BORGER: Thanks a lot.</s>KAYE: We know smoke and pollution is bad, but now there's a T- shirt actually that shows what it's doing to our lungs. You do not want to miss this.