Congressional Democrats are using the budget process to express their longstanding legislative priorities. But they are not guaranteeing all of them will make it into law.

Roughly $150 billion to $160 billion over five years in new spending initiatives are outlined in the House and Senate budget resolutions that conferees will seek to iron out this month.

That is on top of expensive tax breaks assumed in the budget such as a fix for the alternative minimum tax, which would cost $50 billion for this year alone and $1 trillion over the next decade.

Ranging from expanding health insurance for low-income children to providing benefits for Filipino veterans of World War II, the measures reflect broadly popular proposals. But the numerous "reserve funds" promise action on those items only if commensurate offsets are found under new pay/go rules, which will require politically difficult tax increases or entitlement spending cuts...

Maya McGuineas, president of the non-partisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, said given political pressures, it was surprising pay/go has made it this far.

"That said, it only gets harder from here," she said. "It's unlikely we make it through the entire process without any gimmickry or straying from the principle ... there's a real risk that widely popular programs get such support that it busts the budget and then it's easier for others to follow. There's a real risk of a snowball effect."

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