Senate talks 'satisfactory', Treasury releases budget

POLITICO | During a press conference at the Imperial Treasury, Deputy Secretary Mario Draghi announced the results of the talks conducted by the Treasury and members of the Senate over the past weeks. He stated that Chief Secretary Yellen "openly thanks the myriad of Senators who took up the invitation and brought their voices, concerns and ideas to the table for the sake of the country." Draghi went on further to say that "the smooth cooperation and discourse between the Government and the Senate shows the potential for good that can be achieved through productive bicameralism". 
Following the report on the talks with the Senate, Draghi went on to release the first copy of the 585 Imperial Budget. He described it as "the result of the joint efforts of all elements of parliament, across party and ideological lines." He then went on to hail the work of Chief Secretary Yellen herself, saying about the result that: "it brings the best of both worlds, of right and left, of progressivism and fiscal responsability, to the table. It is a budget of compromise, of give and take, of coming together -- that is what Secretary Yellen sought to achieve and I'm happy to show all of you the fruits of our work."
To dissect the budget, Professor at the Faculty of Economy and Business of the Autonomous University of Brussels, and contributor to POLITICO, P. Erry, had the following to say:
Originally posted by P. Erry:After almost a year, arguably the most important piece of legislation this government will draft has been released. I spent most of yesterday reading it, and golly is there a lot to be discussed. As expected from Secretary Yellen, who served as the President of the Royal Bank of Darpartryo prior to joining the Labour Democrats in 881AER, the Budget is fully costed and meticulous in it's implementation. It is clear by this budget that many of the more staunchly left-wing positions of the party have been effectively suppressed within the Democratic party, this budget standing as a symbol of the party's newfound moderate pragmatism. As expected severe cuts were implemented to the Army, however, funding for the Navy and Airforce remain untouched -- confirming the widely held believe that the government seeks to reform the military into a defensive force for deterrence rather than an aggressive force for invasion. Most important is the 30 Billion Fall investment into a Falleen nuclear arsenal, the first of it's kind in the Alliance, and described by many as a necessary tool for the maintenance of global peace.
What stands at a stark contrast of the Brandt era however, is the rather workfarist welfare reform. Waters, and by extension Yellen, both decried the bureaucracy and leniency of the welfare system, calling for necessary reform to increase efficiency and promote employment. With taxes having been decreased across the board by the last government, the Treasury reformed the Child Benefit scheme to lower daily payments by roughly 1/6, adjusted pension interest rates to lower their burden by 6 Billion Fall, while Emergency Care saw some of it's applicable circumstances reviewed, resulting in 1/10 in savings. These are reforms which half a decade ago would've been unthinkable in "Brandt's Party".
Perhaps the most important, and consequential, part of this budget, is the 100+ Billion investment into infrastructure. The National Infrastructure Initiative, as it has been coined, sets funding aside for a ten year period of massive public works to reinvigorate and modernise the country's decaying roads, railways, highways, bridges, air- and seaports, tunnels and so on. The forecast benefits of this investment alone in terms of employment, consumer spending and economic stability are worthy of the last government's mantra -- it shall mark a return to normalcy.
Category:The Imperial Constitution