WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama on Monday was selling a a $3.8 trillion election-year budget, a spending outline designed to cut $4 trillion from the deficit in 10 years through spending restraints and higher taxes on the wealthy. Republicans said the plan fails to tackle the nation's deep fiscal problems.
Obama's budget, as much a political document as spending plan, clearly sets him apart from Republicans who are rabidly opposed to higher taxes and believe the only way to cut government red ink is to slash the heavy burden of social programs, particularly the federal Medicare health insurance program for Americans at age 65.
The budget frames and likely will intensify the deep partisan divisions that have kept Washington in gridlock since Republicans regained majority control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 election.
The president would achieve $1.5 trillion of the deficit reductions in tax increases on the wealthy and by removing certain corporate tax breaks. Obama rejected Republican charges of class warfare. ``This is not about class warfare. This is about the nation's welfare,'' he insisted.
In a message that repeated populist themes Obama also sounded in his State of the Union address, the president defended his proposed tax increases on the wealthy, saying it was important that the burden of getting deficits under control be a shared responsibility.
``This is about making fair choices that benefit not just the people who have done fantastically well over the last few decades but that also benefit the middle class, those fighting to get into the middle class and the economy as a whole,'' Obama said.
Obama used an appearance before students at Northern Virginia Community College to unveil the budget and highlight a $8 billion proposal that aims at boosting the ability of the nation's community colleges to train students for the jobs of the future.
While administration officials defended the overall plan as a balanced approach, Republicans found ready material for attacks, particularly over Obama's failed 2009 promise to cut the skyrocketing deficit in half by the end of his first term.
``It seems like the president has decided again to campaign instead of govern,'' Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said in an interview.
``He's just going to duck the responsibility to tackle this country's fiscal problems.'' Ryan is preparing an alternative to Obama's budget that will be similar to a measure that the House approved last year but failed in the Senate.
Jack Lew, Obama's chief of staff, said the administration had to contend with a deep recession and soaring unemployment that had driven the deficits higher than anyone anticipated. He said Obama's plan would cut the deficit below 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2018, to levels that economists generally view as sustainable.
indiatimes.com
Obama's budget, as much a political document as spending plan, clearly sets him apart from Republicans who are rabidly opposed to higher taxes and believe the only way to cut government red ink is to slash the heavy burden of social programs, particularly the federal Medicare health insurance program for Americans at age 65.
The budget frames and likely will intensify the deep partisan divisions that have kept Washington in gridlock since Republicans regained majority control of the House of Representatives in the 2010 election.
The president would achieve $1.5 trillion of the deficit reductions in tax increases on the wealthy and by removing certain corporate tax breaks. Obama rejected Republican charges of class warfare. ``This is not about class warfare. This is about the nation's welfare,'' he insisted.
In a message that repeated populist themes Obama also sounded in his State of the Union address, the president defended his proposed tax increases on the wealthy, saying it was important that the burden of getting deficits under control be a shared responsibility.
``This is about making fair choices that benefit not just the people who have done fantastically well over the last few decades but that also benefit the middle class, those fighting to get into the middle class and the economy as a whole,'' Obama said.
Obama used an appearance before students at Northern Virginia Community College to unveil the budget and highlight a $8 billion proposal that aims at boosting the ability of the nation's community colleges to train students for the jobs of the future.
While administration officials defended the overall plan as a balanced approach, Republicans found ready material for attacks, particularly over Obama's failed 2009 promise to cut the skyrocketing deficit in half by the end of his first term.
``It seems like the president has decided again to campaign instead of govern,'' Republican Rep. Paul Ryan, chairman of the House Budget Committee, said in an interview.
``He's just going to duck the responsibility to tackle this country's fiscal problems.'' Ryan is preparing an alternative to Obama's budget that will be similar to a measure that the House approved last year but failed in the Senate.
Jack Lew, Obama's chief of staff, said the administration had to contend with a deep recession and soaring unemployment that had driven the deficits higher than anyone anticipated. He said Obama's plan would cut the deficit below 3 percent of gross domestic product by 2018, to levels that economists generally view as sustainable.
indiatimes.com
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