The Associated Press is reporting that President Barack Obama is sending Congress a $3.73 trillion spending blueprint that pledges $1.1 trillion in deficit savings over the next decade through spending cuts and tax increases. Obama's new budget projects that the deficit for the current year will surge to an all-time high of $1.65 trillion. That reflects a sizable tax-cut agreement reached with Republicans in December. For 2012, the administration sees the imbalance declining to $1.1 trillion, giving the country a record four straight years of $1 trillion-plus deficits.
Senior administration officials say that Obama would achieve two-thirds of his projected savings through spending cuts that include a five-year freeze on many domestic programs. The other one-third of the savings would come from tax increases, including limits on tax deductions for high-income taxpayers.
Even before Obama's new budget for 2012 was unveiled on Monday, Republicans were complaining that it did not go far enough. They branded Obama's budget solutions as far too timid for a country facing an unprecedented flood of red ink that has pushed annual deficits to all-time highs above $1 trillion.
We suppose they should have thought of that before lobbying for a tax cut that added $900 billion to the deficit. It helps when there is a plan in place to make up for the lost revenue before voting for measures that aid individuals at the expense of the collective. President Obama and Congress definitely have their work cut out for them.
Read more at Yahoo News.
In other news: National Urban League Accuses Dayton, Ohio, Affiliate of Fiscal Mismanagement.