Democrats' budget bill: $1.1 trillion; 1,900 pages


The budget bill cuts more than $26 billion from President Barack Obama's 2011 requests. | AP Photo Close

By DAVID ROGERS | 12/14/10 4:03 PM EST
Updated: 12/14/10 9:50 PM EST
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Defying the political odds, Senate Democrats rolled out a year-end, governmentwide spending bill Tuesday that cuts more than $26 billion from President Barack Obama’s 2011 requests even as it holds firm to thousands of the appropriations earmarks so adamantly opposed by critics of Congress.

Filling more than 1,900 pages, the $1.1 trillion measure represents an increase of less than 2 percent in annual spending but makes for an easy target of ridicule — a last stand by the Senate’s old bulls before the tea party takeover. In a scene reminiscent of the movie “Casablanca,â€