Senate passes $2.8 trillion election-year budget
Budget passed with only one Democratic vote in support; calls for the opening of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Senate on Thursday narrowly passed a $2.8 trillion election-year budget that would continue a string of huge deficits while also rejecting some of President George W. Bush's domestic spending priorities.

By a vote of 51-49, the Senate approved the fiscal 2007 budget that is nonbinding, but provides guidelines for spending bills Congress will try to pass this summer.

The budget passed with Vice President Dick Cheney, who also serves as president of the Senate, sitting in the Senate chamber ready to cast a tie-breaking vote if needed.

The House of Representatives has not yet written its version of a fiscal 2007 budget.

The Republican budget, which won the support of only one Senate Democrat, projects a $359 billion deficit in the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, down slightly from the $371 billion estimated for this year.

The budget also calls for the opening of Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, generating an estimated $6 billion in leasing fees and bonus bids paid by energy companies to drill in the refuge. Pro-development lawmakers have been pushing the initiative for years and it was unclear whether environmentalists will be able to block the plan this year.

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Most stock quote data provided by BATS. Market indices are shown in real time, except for the DJIA, which is delayed by two minutes. All times are ET. Disclaimer. Morningstar: © 2018 Morningstar, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Factset: FactSet Research Systems Inc. 2018. All rights reserved. Chicago Mercantile Association: Certain market data is the property of Chicago Mercantile Exchange Inc. and its licensors. All rights reserved. Dow Jones: The Dow Jones branded indices are proprietary to and are calculated, distributed and marketed by DJI Opco, a subsidiary of S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC and have been licensed for use to S&P Opco, LLC and CNN. Standard & Poor's and S&P are registered trademarks of Standard & Poor's Financial Services LLC and Dow Jones is a registered trademark of Dow Jones Trademark Holdings LLC. All content of the Dow Jones branded indices © S&P Dow Jones Indices LLC 2018 and/or its affiliates.