WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama has put forward a $4 trillion budget loaded with spending and tax reforms that will likely be dead on arrival at the Republican-controlled Congress. Using a healthier economy to turn away from years of austerity-first policies, Obama’s plan includes sizable spending on infrastructure, research and the military, according to details released.
Senior officials said the plan would “put the good of middle-class families and our economy front and center, while also continuing progress on restoring fiscal discipline.” “You don’t have to choose between those two things,” one official said. “You can in fact accomplish both.”
The plan would see the deficit remain under three percent of gross domestic product, a level economists commonly view as sustainable. “The deficit in 2016 will be $474 billion or 2.5 percent of GDP,” a senior administration official said, adding that debt would be 75 percent of GDP.
Obama will give a speech at the Department of Homeland Security, an agency currently the subject of a budget fight with Republicans and a sign that the president plans to take a combative approach.
Republicans are likely to balk in particular at the increase in non-military spending and the closing of popular tax loopholes.
