Obama's $4T Budget Sets Up Tax Fight With Congress
President Barack Obama sent Congress a $4 trillion budget that would raise taxes on corporations and the nations top earners, spend more on infrastructure and housing, and stabilize, but not eliminate, the annual budget deficit.
The spending blueprint challenges Republicans to make politically thorny choices between defending current tax rates for the wealthy and Obamas proposals to boost spending for the middle class, the Pentagon and companies that build domestic infrastructure.
It also plays to the presidents Democratic base with proposals to increase spending for domestic programs such as education and child care and expanding Social Security benefits for same-sex couples.
In remarks this morning, Obama said hed reject any budget from Congress that locks in the mindless austerity of existing budget caps and cuts funding for his priorities.
We would be making a critical error if we avoided making these investments, the president told government workers at the Department of Homeland Security on Monday.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters Copies of President Barack Obama's proposed 2016 budget are displayed for sale at the Government Printing Office in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 2, 2015.
More than a fiscal plan, the budget sets the terms Democrats want for the political debate heading into the 2016 elections. Addressing income inequality has become a mantra for Democrats from Obama to Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the partys presidential nomination, and some of the Republican contenders have taken up the issue as well.
Obamas Goals
The proposed budget for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1, released this morning in Washington, backs up Obamas recent talk about directing assistance to the middle class, administration officials said. Rather than dialing back his goals after Republicans expanded their House majority and took control of the Senate in Novembers midterm elections, the president is pursuing a more aggressive strategy.
Congressional Republicans, who are under no obligation to follow Obamas blueprint, were out with criticism as soon as the budget documents arrived at the Capitol.
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Obama's $4T Budget Sets Up Tax Fight With Congress