President Obama on Monday sent Congress a $3.8 trillion federal budget for the coming fiscal year, saying he would create a bipartisan commission to find ways to bring down government spending.
"I'm asking Republicans and Democrats alike to take a fresh look at programs they've supported in the past to see what's working and what's not, and trim back accordingly," he said.
HIGHLIGHTS
The spending blueprint calls for tax cuts for businesses, including a $5,000 tax credit for hiring new workers this year, help for the unemployed and $25 billion more for cash-strapped state governments.
The jobs initiative largely mirrors last year's stimulus bill, but is about one-third its size. The president is asking for nearly $300 billion for recession relief and job stimulus.
The plan would also extend the popular Making Work Pay middle-class tax breaks of $400 per individual and $800 per couple through 2011. They were due to expire after this year.
DEFICIT WOES
In addition to the $1.27 trillion deficit projected for fiscal year 2011, the administration now projects the current-year deficit will hit $1.6 trillion, higher than any in the nation's history. The president's plan sees the deficit coming down by nearly $300 billion next year, and he's offering more than $1 trillion in deficit reduction proposals over the coming decade.
NEW PANEL?
Obama wants to hand off to a commission decisions on the tough steps needed to reduce deficits and slow the growth in the federal debt to levels economists deem prudent.
The panel's recommendations wouldn't be due until after the midterm election.
Obama's proposal lays out a path to reduce annual deficits to about $700 billion in four years, but ideas for tax increases or cuts in popular benefit programs such as Medicare or Social Security to reduce them an additional $200 million would have to come from the commission.
GOP RESPONSE
"We've already discussed it with many members of our caucus and there's no enthusiasm at all for this kind of commission -- precisely because it's a cover for their desire to significantly increase taxes," said Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., the chairman of the House Republican Study Committee.
SAVANNAH RIVER SITE
Savannah River Site's budget changes only slightly from 2010 to 2011, according to figures unveiled Monday by the U.S. Energy Department.
CHANGES FOR FISCAL 2011
2010 2011
Total budget $2.384 billion $2.545 billion
Environmental cleanup $1.194 billion $1.217 billion
Security and federal $184 million $186 million
program funding
National Nuclear Security $1.006 billion $1.141 billion
Administration
-- From staff reports
A proposed $1 billion increase for research at the National Institutes of Health is "certainly good news," said D. Douglas Miller, senior vice president for health affairs at Medical College of Georgia. The school received about $58 million in NIH funding last fiscal year.
While times are tight, those kinds of funds can help build infrastructure to do more research and also can impact the community, he said.
-- From staff reports
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