mburbank
Feb 2nd, 2004, 09:40 AM
Remember Naldo asking what set of circumstances could make W. vulnerable in the coming election?
Bush Proposes Budget Boxed in by Deficits
Reuters
By Adam Entous and Caren Bohan
WASHINGTON - Facing a record $521 billion deficit, President Bush proposed a $2.4 trillion election-year budget on Monday that will cut dozens of domestic programs and set deficit-reduction goals that even fellow Republicans are skeptical he can meet.
Bush has overseen a dramatic worsening of the budget picture after inheriting a record surplus. He hopes to improve his fiscal image before the November election by promising to reduce the deficit by a third next year and in half by 2007.
The White House still expects the shortfall to total $1.35 trillion through 2009, and for government debt to rise from $8.1 trillion to $10.5 trillion.
"The government must exercise fiscal responsibility by limiting spending growth, focusing on the results of government programs, and cutting wasteful spending," Bush said.
But fiscal conservatives in both parties doubt Bush can deliver on his deficit reduction promises.
His fiscal 2005 budget left out the tens of billions sure to be needed next year to keep U.S. troops in Iraq (news - web sites) and omitted a fix for provisions in the tax code that will put a big burden on many middle-class households.
Homeland security and the military will be the budget's biggest winners with rises of nearly 10 percent and 7 percent respectively.
Defense contractors including Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co., Northrop Grumman Corp., Raytheon Co. and General Dynamics Corp. stand to benefit as Bush's $401.7 billion military budget increases spending on missile defense and on modernizing the Army.
Hardest hit were the departments of Agriculture and Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites), the Small Business Administration, and the Corps of Engineers, with cuts ranging from 1 percent for the Commerce Department (news - web sites) to as much as 49 percent for the General Services Administration.
To placate conservatives threatening a revolt, growth of discretionary spending -- outside of homeland security and defense -- would be capped at 0.5 percent. Because that is well below the inflation rate, it amounts to a cut in domestic programs and the lowest growth since 1993.
In a tacit acknowledgment that deficits are here to stay, Bush set the goal of bringing this year's record $521 billion shortfall down to $364 billion in fiscal 2005, to $241 billion in 2007 and then to $237 billion in 2009. There is no talk of surpluses in the foreseeable future.
Bush Proposes Budget Boxed in by Deficits
Reuters
By Adam Entous and Caren Bohan
WASHINGTON - Facing a record $521 billion deficit, President Bush proposed a $2.4 trillion election-year budget on Monday that will cut dozens of domestic programs and set deficit-reduction goals that even fellow Republicans are skeptical he can meet.
Bush has overseen a dramatic worsening of the budget picture after inheriting a record surplus. He hopes to improve his fiscal image before the November election by promising to reduce the deficit by a third next year and in half by 2007.
The White House still expects the shortfall to total $1.35 trillion through 2009, and for government debt to rise from $8.1 trillion to $10.5 trillion.
"The government must exercise fiscal responsibility by limiting spending growth, focusing on the results of government programs, and cutting wasteful spending," Bush said.
But fiscal conservatives in both parties doubt Bush can deliver on his deficit reduction promises.
His fiscal 2005 budget left out the tens of billions sure to be needed next year to keep U.S. troops in Iraq (news - web sites) and omitted a fix for provisions in the tax code that will put a big burden on many middle-class households.
Homeland security and the military will be the budget's biggest winners with rises of nearly 10 percent and 7 percent respectively.
Defense contractors including Lockheed Martin Corp., Boeing Co., Northrop Grumman Corp., Raytheon Co. and General Dynamics Corp. stand to benefit as Bush's $401.7 billion military budget increases spending on missile defense and on modernizing the Army.
Hardest hit were the departments of Agriculture and Transportation, the Environmental Protection Agency (news - web sites), the Small Business Administration, and the Corps of Engineers, with cuts ranging from 1 percent for the Commerce Department (news - web sites) to as much as 49 percent for the General Services Administration.
To placate conservatives threatening a revolt, growth of discretionary spending -- outside of homeland security and defense -- would be capped at 0.5 percent. Because that is well below the inflation rate, it amounts to a cut in domestic programs and the lowest growth since 1993.
In a tacit acknowledgment that deficits are here to stay, Bush set the goal of bringing this year's record $521 billion shortfall down to $364 billion in fiscal 2005, to $241 billion in 2007 and then to $237 billion in 2009. There is no talk of surpluses in the foreseeable future.