The US Senate on Thursday approved a US$3.5-trillion budget plan for the fiscal 2010 year that embraces the priorities in President Barack Obama's original budget.

The vote was 55-43, along party lines.

The Senate version of budget is slightly less expensive than the US$3.6-trillion budget Obama submitted to Congress in February and includes a projected deficit of US$1.2 trillion for the 2010 year beginning October 1, 2009.

According to news reports, the Democratic-controlled Senate rejected most Republican alternatives to slash spending and cut taxes, but added extra money for heating assistance to low-income households and security on the US border with Mexico, which is trying to curb drug violence.

The Senate approval came a few hours after the House passed its own budget plan for the 2010 fiscal year.

The Democratic-drafted US$3.6-trillion House budget plan got approval by a vote of 233-196, along party lines, after defeating a Republican alternative that slashed spending and taxes.

The budget plans passed by Congress do not require Obama's signature, but the House and Senate will have to work out any differences between the two versions before they can move onto the next phase of the presidential agenda.

Although the budget legislation is nonbinding, it sets parameters for spending and tax measures later this year.

Obama's US$3.6-trillion budget, his first one, seeks to shore up the nation's economy that has been in a recession since December 2007 while overhauling health care, energy and education.

(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2009)