White House Delays Budget Update, Will Media Smell a Rat?

The Associated Press Monday suggested that the White House's delay in releasing an update about the budget might be tied to the administration's desire to get controversial bills on healthcare reform and cap and trade passed before Congress and Americans know just how large the deficit really is.

With this currently a featured link at the Drudge Report, and it coming from the leading wire service in the world, one has to wonder how Obama-loving media -- who all seem behind healthcare reform as well as cap and tax! -- will cover this revelation.

After all, imagine how these same press outlets would be reporting this if George W. Bush was still in office and was proposing tax cuts to get the economy going while delaying such a budget update:

The administration's annual midsummer budget update is sure to show higher deficits and unemployment and slower growth than projected in President Barack Obama's budget in February and update in May, and that could complicate his efforts to get his signature health care and global-warming proposals through Congress.

The release of the update - usually scheduled for mid-July - has been put off until the middle of next month, giving rise to speculation the White House is delaying the bad news at least until Congress leaves town on its August 7 summer recess.

The administration is pressing for votes before then on its $1 trillion health care initiative, which lawmakers are arguing over how to finance.

The White House budget director, Peter Orszag, said on Sunday that the administration believes the "chances are high" of getting a health care bill by then. But new analyses showing runaway costs are jeopardizing Senate passage.

So, if you add it all up, the White House is pressuring Congress -- aided and abetted by his media, of course! -- to pass astoundingly expensive pieces of legislation before the August recess.

At the same time, it's withholding information about the country's current fiscal condition and how the poor economy is impacting tax receipts.

Will more media outlets be skeptical about this delay, or will they wait to share it with the citizenry until after Congress takes a vacation?