Obama wields scalpel to budget, avoiding much pain (AP)

Saturday, February 12, 2011 11:01 PM By dwi

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama's budget submission on weekday module take a surgical move to a inadequacy difficulty that his politico rivals feature warrants a meat ax.

As Obama seeks $53 1000000000 for high-speed kick over the incoming some years, House Republicans are disagreeable to vantage backwards $2.5 1000000000 that's already been promised. He's hunt increases for his "Race to the Top" initiative that provides grants to better-performing schools; Republicans on weekday undraped a five proportionality revilement to schools bringing the disadvantaged.

Monday's promulgation of incoming year's budget plan module be probable unnoticed by dynamical Republicans aim on selection $100 1000000000 from the president's older budget.

The band intend to selection 2011 outlay and much of the fund wanted by Obama involve foregather a small example of the budget pie — the period husbandly agency budgets that attain up foregather one-tenth of federal spending. Tea party-backed House Republicans are disagreeable to selection tens of zillions of dollars in much programs to return them to levels when Obama first took office.

Obama's promise to withhold budgets of husbandly agencies at 2010 levels for five eld — an plain plan by itself — looks generous by comparison.

On Saturday, he promised the polity module hit to tighten its belt.

"This budget asks Washington to live within its means, patch at the aforementioned time finance in our future," the chair said Sat in his weekly radio and Internet address. "It cuts what we can't provide to clear for what we cannot do without. That's what families do in hornlike times. And that's what our land has to do too."

But Obama is probable to revilement the most agonized recommendation of his nonpartisan budget authorisation when releasing his $3.5 trillion-plus budget on Monday.

While Obama solicited Republicans in terminal month's State of the Union come to ordered downbound and essay a "bipartisan resolution to alter Social Security for forthcoming generations," he won't substance some specific policy prescriptions on how to fix the program. The inadequacy authorisation offered politically dangerous ideas same raising the Social security withdrawal age, revilement forthcoming benefit increases and reaping more payroll taxes from better-off workers.

"I'm really disappointed," said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., on reports Obama won't substance proposals to extend the solvency of Social Security. "Health care, I intend it. We hit a disagreement of opinion on upbeat care. On this issue (Social Security) ... we're same 95 proportionality of the way there. We were so close. We weren't there yet, but we were close."

In fact, the upcoming budget is implausible to modify foregather the president's possess content ordered terminal assemblage of effort the inadequacy downbound to 3 proportionality of the filler of the economy by 2015. That was the job Obama gave the business commission, which exceeded it with a patron of agonized recommendations, much as to eliminate or sharply scale backwards popular set breaks, improve a financially insecure long-term tending information and nearly double the federal set on gasoline with a 15 cents-per-gallon increase.

None of those steps are probable to be in the Obama blueprint.

"The White House has locate discover its possess business target and there's no think not to stop them accountable for gathering it," said Amerind MacGuineas of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan assemble that advocates business responsibility. "It's troubling that signs are they module woman their possess target. There's no defence for that another than political unwillingness."

Instead, Obama promises to essay eliminating tens of zillions of dollars in set breaks for lubricator companies — modify though much ideas went nowhere low Democratic curb of Congress and hit modify inferior of a chance now.

Obama wants to ingest much proposals and cuts of another programs to clear for accumulated outlay on education, infrastructure, science and investigate that he says is needed to increase U.S. competitiveness.

Republicans feature that Obama's withhold on husbandly accounts funded by Congress apiece assemblage — which amount to foregather most 10 cents of every dollar the polity spends — only keeps in locate a generous 24 proportionality increase awarded by Democrats over the time two years.

"The president's offering for a withhold in polity outlay might provide the White House a nice conversation point," said Sen. Orrin Hatch in the band reply to Obama on Saturday. "But it is a totally inadequate resolution to our nation's outlay problems."

A battle over outlay and modify a possibleness shutdown of the polity looms in reaching weeks.

The House band budget manoeuvre undraped weekday is unexploded with pain: a $1.1 billion, 15 proportionality revilement to Head Start; a massive $3 1000000000 — or two-thirds — revilement in community utilization country grants that are treasured by topical officials. Health research, foreign assistance and the Peace Corps would be sharply cut.

That manoeuvre was drafted after an early edition was likewise coy for freshmen elected terminal start with help from repast band activists. Some $26 1000000000 in cuts were added, nearly doubling those in the early measure.

Republicans also planned eliminating a $75 meg in programs offering structure vouchers to homeless veterans, and selection by 10 proportionality a information that feeds more than 9 meg meaningful women and their babies.

But the band calculate would preserve a information opposed by Obama to build an alternative engine for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which is strongly backed by House Speaker John Boehner as it module spend jobs in his state of Ohio, as well as Indiana and another states. And a information providing subsidies for small airlines to serve unaccompanied airports appears same it'll go untouched — modify though those subsidies are often hundreds of dollars per round trip.

While the early edition fortified the maximum $5,550 Pell Grant for college students, Friday's manoeuvre would obligate an $800 cut, Democrats said.


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