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Obama aims for $1.1tn deficit cut
[Al Jazeera] Barack B.O.Obama has proposed a budget that would cut the US deficit by $1.1 trillion over 10 years, setting the stage for a tough fight with Republicans who vow even tougher spending controls.
However, The infamous However... the fiscal blueprint largely ignores his own deficit commission's plea to lower huge entitlement programmes like Social Security and Medicare. Obama called his new budget one of "tough choices and sacrifices", but most of those cuts would be held off until after the end of his first term. Overall, Obama proposed reducing the deficits by $1.1tn over a decade although his changes would actually add to the deficits this year and next. Republicans aim to make 2012 presidential election a referendum on Democrat Obama's fiscal track record He is projecting the deficit will hit an all-time high of $1.65tn this year and then drop sharply to $1.1tn in 2012, with an expected improvement in the economy and as reductions in Social Security withholding and business taxes expire. Obama's 2012 budget would actually add $8bn to the projected deficit for that year because the bulk of the savings he will achieve through a freeze in many domestic programmes would be devoted to increased spending in areas Obama considers priorities, such as education, clean energy and high-speed rail. "We have more work to do to live up to our promise by repairing the damage this brutal recession has inflicted on our people," he said. Republicans, who took control of the House in the November elections and picked up seats in the senate in part because of voter anger over the soaring deficits, called Obama's efforts too timid. The politicians are set to begin debating on Tuesday $61bn in cuts for the remaining seven months of fiscal 2011. "Presidents are elected to lead and address big challenges," Paul Ryan, the chairman of the Republican House budget committee of Wisconsin, said. "The big challenge facing our economy today and our country tomorrow is the debt crisis. He's making it worse, not better." Al Jizz's John Terrett, reporting from Capitol Hill, said there is "a real war" going on between the Republicans and the Democrats. "The Republicans would have the Democrats cut far more. President B.O. is not really comfortable about going as far as he has done with the cut backs in this budget, lots of Americans are going to be hurting as a result of it," he said. "But nonetheless, he has to appeal to two groups: one is the Republicans who control the House of Representatives; and the other is floating voters that have a foot firmly in the Republican camp but who voted for him in 2008," he said. Posted by: Fred 2011-02-15 |
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