Win McNamee - GETTY
Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., criticizes President Barack Obama's 2013 budget during a press conference at the Capitol on Monday in Washington, D.C. The budget requests raising $1.5 trillion over 10 years from the wealthy.
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama called for more spending on community colleges, job training, infrastructure, and research and development, as he released an election-year budget that showed a shift in focus from budget cutting to job creation.
Arguing that the country can't "cut our way to growth," Obama delivered a $3.8 trillion budget to Congress and blew through a promise to cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term. Obama's budget projects a $1.3 trillion deficit in fiscal year 2012 and $901 billion in 2013, both missing the $700 billion deficit that would have made good on his pledge.
A central and controversial feature of the budget is a proposal to make the wealthy shoulder more of the burden of reducing the deficit. The 2013 budget included $1.5 trillion in increased taxes, including the expiration of the George W. Bush-era tax cuts for top earners, increased estate taxes and higher rates on investment income.
Obama sent the budget to Capitol Hill with a message about pushing the economic recovery now and worrying more about deficit reduction later.
One way to spur growth is to pour $8 billion into two-year colleges so they can train workers specifically for the industries in their neighborhoods, Obama said.
"At a time when our economy is growing and creating jobs at a faster clip, we've got to do everything in our power to keep this recovery on track," Obama said Monday at a community college in northern Virginia.
"By reducing our deficit in the long term, what that allows us to do is to invest in the things that will help grow our economy right now. We can't cut back on those things that are important for us to grow."
Spending vs. cutting
The message, and the budget behind it, showed how far the president's stance has moved from the deficit reduction talks last summer. Then, he tried to strike a deal with House Republicans that would cut debt and deficits and trim government programs while increasing taxes on the rich. Having failed to reach a deal, Obama has since called for more spending, not less, to aid the fragile economy.
The budget calls for new investment in highway and bridge construction, school improvement, student aid, manufacturing and research. Republicans scoffed at the president's broader strategy of job creation through new government spending, complaining that the president's approach ignores the threat deficits pose to long-term growth. Republican leaders dismissed the budget as nothing more than a campaign document.
Top advisers to the president say the budget would put the country on track to make $4 trillion in deficit reductions over the next 10 years, through trims to government spending and the higher taxes on the wealthy. The budget would cut spending by $2.50 for every dollar it raises in taxes, according to the president's economic team.
The real goal of the budget is to win public support for Obama's vision for the country, which will go before voters for a vote in the November presidential election. In this politically charged year, neither the White House plan nor its Republican alternative is likely to be approved by Congress.
Republicans said they were suspicious of the accounting, for one thing, including the way the Obama budget office books the savings from the winding down of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Republicans quickly dismissed the notion that money not spent on the wars should be counted as savings.
What counts as saving?
"It's a gimmick," House Budget committee chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Monday. "This is money that was never intended to be spent, it was never requested. We shouldn't be counting it as part of our total as if we're accomplishing savings."
The Obama budget counts more than $800 billion in savings from the wars, and reinvests $230 billion in transportation projects, part of the administration's spending aimed at boosting the economy. Obama is seeking a $476 billion, six-year transportation bill, which, when added to the $50 billion more requested for roads and bridges, amounts to an 80 percent increase over the last such request.
Several Republicans noted the president's budget does not make structural changes to Medicare, a major driver of the nation's mounting debt and a political risk for both parties.
But advisers to Obama say he proposed more trims to entitlements, including Medicare and agricultural subsidies, than any other recent president. The budget calls for a $360 billion in cuts to Medicare and Medicaid over the next 10 years.
