Obama's Budget Sets Up Fight With GOP

He wants to beef up domestic spending, raise taxes on rich
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 11, 2012 1:35 PM CST
Obama's Budget Sets Up Fight With GOP
President Obama speaks at the White House on Friday.   (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

The major news outlets are getting details of the budget plan President Obama will unveil on Monday, and it sounds like it's designed to set up election-year comparisons with Republicans. Two big themes: It calls for higher taxes on the rich and big spending on roads and manufacturing projects. It also projects the 2012 deficit will rise slightly to $1.33 trillion before dropping to $901 billion in fiscal 2013. Other details:

  • Obama will call for $350 billion in "short-term job spending," $60 billion "to refurbish at least 35,000 schools and help state and local governments hire and retain teachers," and $2.2 billion for manufacturing R&D. Overall, he wants a 5% hike in research spending unrelated to the military. New York Times
  • Obama's plan would "pump nearly $500 billion into new transportation projects over the next decade." Washington Post
  • It "resists sweeping cuts to government programs, preserves the structure of Medicare and Medicaid, and calls for close to $1.5 trillion in tax increases on higher-income Americans over 10 years." Wall Street Journal
  • The president will use about $230 billion in war savings to pay for domestic investments, "including a nearly 50% increase in transportation spending over six years." Politico
(More President Obama stories.)

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