"President Barack Obama's Democratic allies in Congress are aiming to give him a gift to cap his 100th day in office: passage of a congressional budget plan that endorses much of his ambitious agenda, especially his plan to reform the U.S. health care system," Associated Press reports. "While a welcome victory, congressional passage of the budget would be only a first, relatively easy step toward Obama's goal of providing health care coverage for all Americans. Next would come arduous negotiations among lawmakers, the Obama administration and a vast array of interest groups. The House debated the $3.4 trillion spending plan Tuesday afternoon and both the House and Senate were to vote Wednesday. With the economy in recession and the bailout of the financial sector costing hundreds of billions of dollars, deficits would rocket to $1.7 trillion for the ongoing budget year, dipping to a still-astonishing $1.2 trillion in 2010."