Budget Includes Fishing Lessons, Moon Shot

First look at proposed 2011 budget shows sharp break between haves and have-nots

(NEWSER) - President Obama delivered his proposed 2011 budget to Congress today, and the Washington Post drills down to find the winners and losers. Winners first:

• K-12 education: The Department of Education's budget will increase by 6%, or $3 billion.
• Research: The proposal pumps up the Energy Department's budget 7%, or $2 billion, and the National Science Foundation's budget climbs 8%.
• The military: The Defense Department's budget rises 3.4%, and that's not counting spending on the Afghanistan and Iraq wars.

Record shortfall in current fiscal year would shrink to $1.3T in 2011

(AP) - President Obama's proposed budget predicts the national deficit will crest at a record-breaking $1.6 trillion in the current fiscal year, then start to recede in 2011 to $1.3 trillion, a congressional official said today. The new budget, out tomorrow, says deficits over the next decade will average 4.5% of the size of the economy, a level economists say is dangerously high if not addressed, said the official, who was not authorized to discuss the budget before its public release. More»

(NEWSER) - The federal budget deficit will surpass $1.8 trillion during the current fiscal year, the Congressional Budget Office said today. The figure far outstrips the previous estimate of $1.2 trillion and spells trouble for President Obama's proposed budget, the Wall Street Journal reports, but the White House budget director said the projection won't derail the administration's plans. More»

Ryan shoots back that Obama is 'disappointing'

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama plans to savage the House GOP budget proposal today, calling it "thinly veiled social Darwinism," according to a draft of the speech he'll deliver. "It’s a Trojan horse," Obama will say. "Disguised as deficit reduction plan, it's really an attempt to impose a radical vision on our country. … It's antithetical to our entire history as a land of opportunity and upward mobility to everyone who's willing to work for it." More»

There would be just two brackets, with the top at 25%

(NEWSER) - House Republicans rolled out a new Paul Ryan-penned budget proposal today that calls for a drastic tax-code overhaul, major changes to Medicare and Medicaid, and deep cuts in domestic spending, all while softening a set of automatic defense spending cuts set to hit in January. The budget would scrap our current six-bracket tax system for a two-tiered one: one at 10% and one at 25%, the Washington Post reports. Half of the spending cuts would come from health care moves, including completely eliminating "Obamacare," turning Medicaid into a block grant, and implementing the Medicare overhaul Ryan devised with Ron Wyden. More»