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WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Congress approved a $3.4 trillion budget for the coming year Wednesday, approving most of President Obama's key spending priorities including increasing in health care, education and alternative energy spending.
Congress approved a budget plan Wednesday, President Obama's 100th day in office.
The spending plan passed without a single Republican vote in either the House or Senate.
The Senate voted for the plan 53-43. Four Democrats, including recent party-switcher Sen. Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, voted against it.
Earlier, the House approved the budget 233-193, with 17 Democrats voting against it.
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Major health care reform is likely to pass this year because the special process, known as budget reconciliation, won't allow Republicans to filibuster the legislation, as was widely expected.
Democrats, who control 59 seats in the Senate, will be able to pass it with a simple majority vote instead of the 60 needed to overcome a filibuster.
Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-North Dakota, said he didn't believe that the Senate would need to use reconciliation but noted that it is "there as an insurance policy."
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Under the Democratic plan, the federal government will run an anticipated deficit of $1.2 trillion in the next fiscal year. Their plan promises to cut the deficit by more than half by 2012.
"It is clear that more will be needed to address the long-term fiscal imbalance confronting the nation beyond the five-year budget window," Conrad said.
Under the compromise plan, increases in non-defense discretionary spending are limited to 2.9 percent through 2014. Obama's signature tax cuts from the stimulus plan -- $400 for individuals and $800 for couples -- are slated to expire after 2010.
The measure also allows former President George W. Bush's tax cuts for couples who make more than $250,000 to expire in 2010.