Free Republic

WASHINGTON - House Democrats neared initial approval of an election-year budget blueprint late Wednesday that would produce sizable surpluses by 2012 by allowing President Bush's tax cuts to expire as scheduled. The $3 trillion budget plan for 2009, expected to pass the House Budget Committee on a party-line vote, would award greater-than-inflation increases to domestic programs. That immediately earned a promise from the White House that Bush would veto subsequent spending bills funding agency budgets. The Senate Budget Committee planned a vote Thursday on a largely similar plan. At issue is the annual congressional budget resolution, a nonbinding document that...

Tehran - Iran expects to earn $60bn from oil exports in its current financial year that ends on March 20, 2007, state television reported on Sunday. "Last year, we earned about $50bn from oil sales. This year this figure will reach more than $60bn," Oil Minister Kazem Vaziri-Hamaneh was quoted as saying. "Iran generally exports between around 2.3 million and 2.4 million barrels per day. But today we have around 2.25 million barrels per day of exports," he said, adding Iran's oil was sold at about $62 per barrel on Saturday. Last Wednesday, Iran said it has raised its oil...