Thurston McCain: I have a budget, too!

lol

TPM:

John McCain is taking a page from House Republicans and, in about an hour, will be introducing an alternative budget of his own. It's a move that might just rankle Judd Gregg--who, as chairman of the Budget Committee, and the guy who would normally make these decisions, opted not to go that route.

We should have more details once it comes to the floor, but in the mean time, recall that during his presidential campaign, McCain called for a one year non-military discretionary spending freeze. That's in contrast to the House GOP budget which calls for a five year freeze. Economic conditions in the country have gotten worse since the November election, though, and Republican cries for spending cuts have grown louder, so it's possible that he's has doubled down or more on this idea.

There is more:

According to a summary sent by a McCain aide, the Arizona Republican would trim spending on most programs except defense and veterans benefits, which would increase.

He would also extend President Bush's 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which he promised to do during his presidential campaign.

McCain's plan would bring the deficit only slightly lower in the next five years than the Senate Democrats' plan.

His proposal would put the deficit at $484 billion by 2014. It is projected at $508 billion under the Senate Democrats budget.

But McCain says his plan would bring deficits much lower than the budget offered by his former rival.

He claims his plan would bring the deficit to $448 billion by 2019, while President Obama's budget leaves an estimated $1.189 trillion deficit.

It is not entirely clear how McCain arrives at those figures, since the documents released by his office were summaries.