Senate Fiscal Affairs Committee chair Jovita Taimanao (Ind-Rota) said yesterday that the panel will not introduce a substitute budget bill, but will only propose amendments to the one that the House of Representatives passed on Aug. 18.

The Senate has set Sept 6 for deliberation of the 2011 Budget Bill, which was passed by the House of Representatives today, Senate Speaker Prasobsuk Boondej said on Wednesday.

While the state of Australia's House of Representatives remains uncertain, there is no doubt the Greens are the big winners in the Senate.

The House of Representatives has adjourned for a six-week summer recess, and the Senate's set to do the same later this week. But before that happens, Democrats have an ambitious to-do list -- including taking up an energy bill which was unveiled last week. The scaled-back proposal doesn't contain any provisions on climate change.

The Senate on Thursday approved funds to pay for President Barack Obama's Afghanistan troop increase, but refused to sign off on billions in extra nonmilitary spending sought by the House of Representatives.