"I don't think we should be chasing our tail, constantly revising assumptions," Orszag said. "Let's see what happens, let it work. We'll have a midsession review later in the year. We'll have an opportunity to revise the assumptions at that point."
President Obama's budget assumes the economy will grow at about 3.2 percent. Given increasing unemployment, shrinking credit, and a general frustration over the crumbling economy, it now seems unrealistic.
Orszag acknowledged that the federal budget is "uglier than we would like," but he blamed most of the spending on last year's budget process and defended Obama's decision to go forward with it without seeking more changes.
"This is like your relief pitcher coming in into the ninth inning and wanting to redo the whole game," he said. "Next year, we will be the starting pitcher and the game is going to be completely different."
The $410 billion spending bill includes the kinds of lawmakers' pet projects that Obama pledged as a candidate to eliminate. His top aides say Obama would overlook for now the time-tested tradition that allows lawmakers to divert millions at a time to pet projects, known as earmarks, in the hope of moving on.
The measure expected to be voted on by the Senate this week keeps the government open for business through Sept. 30, when the federal budget year ends. Taxpayers for Common Sense, a watchdog group, identified almost 8,600 earmarks totaling $7.7 billion; Democrats say the number is $3.8 billion and that just under half of the projects come from GOP lawmakers.
Orszag also asked for patience as the 6-week-old administration looks for solutions: "Well, I think fundamentally, the economy is weak. Job losses began in January of 2008. The stock market started declining October 2007. This has been, you know, eight years in the making, and again, it's going to take some time to work our way out of it."
Republicans weren't swayed by Orszag's arguments, saying the Democratic spending bill doesn't address the problems or keep Obama's campaign pledges.
