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 . The measure passed two days after congressional Democrats reached an agreement reconciling House and Senate versions of the budget package . `` Today , for the first time in many , many years , we have a president 's budget ... that is a statement of our national values , '' House Speaker Nancy Pelosi , D-California , said during the final debate on the House floor . `` What is important to us as a nation is reflected in this budget . It 's a very happy day for our country . '' Republicans said the budget reflected reckless taxing and spending priorities that would leave the country in a more fiscally precarious position . `` Budgets are supposed to be about tough decisions , and there are no tough decisions in this budget , '' said House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio . `` It spends an awful lot of money , it raises a lot of taxes , and it puts all of this debt on the backs of our kids and grandkids . This is not the American way . The American way has been about a more limited government . '' In one of the most contentious and politically polarizing decisions this year , Democratic budget negotiators decided to fast-track a key part of the budget process . Major health care reform is likely to pass this year because the special process , known as budget reconciliation , wo n'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 did n't believe that the Senate would need to use reconciliation but noted that it is `` there as an insurance policy . '' Sen. Mike Enzi , R-Wyoming , speaking for most of his GOP Senate colleagues , warned in the budget debate that if a health care `` reconciliation winds up in the budget bill , it 'll be like a declaration of war . '' 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 . The budget compromise largely tracks the Obama administration 's initial $ 3.67 billion proposed spending plan , with the notable exception to drop his $ 250 billion request for potential bailouts of struggling financial institutions . Fiscally conservative House Democrats , known as Blue Dogs , also negotiated with Democratic leaders to cut $ 10 billion from the president 's $ 540 billion request for non-defense discretionary spending . In an additional nod to her caucus 's conservatives , Pelosi and House Majority Whip Steny Hoyer sent a letter to Senate leaders `` throwing down the gauntlet '' to insist that a pay-as-you-go system be followed , which would require new federal spending to be offset with budget cuts or tax increases , a Democratic aide said . Obama called for the `` PAYGO '' legislation in his weekend radio address . The president also gathered his Cabinet members last week and challenged them to cut a total of $ 100 million in the next 90 days . In the context of the federal budget , $ 100 million in savings is a tiny amount , critics say . It is the equivalent , according to one example , of having a car dealer offer to shave $ 1 from the cost of a $ 36,700 vehicle . `` Any amount of savings is obviously welcome , '' Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell , R-Kentucky , said at the time . `` But [ $ 100 million is ] about the average amount we 'll spend every single day just covering the interest on the stimulus package that we passed earlier this year . '' White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said ordinary Americans would nevertheless appreciate the savings effort . `` Only in Washington , D.C. , is $ 100 million not a lot of money . It is where I 'm from . It is where I grew up . And I think it is for hundreds of millions of Americans . ''
Senate votes in favor of budget 53-43 ; House votes 233-193 . No Republican in either chamber voted for measure . House speaker says new budget `` is a statement of our national values '' Budget compromise tracks Obama 's initial $ 3.67 billion proposed plan .