“President Barack Obama sends a $3.77 trillion spending plan to Congress today that calls for reductions in Social Security and Medicare in a political gamble intended to revive deficit-reduction talks.
Obama’s budget for fiscal 2014 proposes $50 billion for roads, bridges and other public works, $1 billion to spur manufacturing innovation and $1 billion for an initiative to revamp higher education, according to administration officials who briefed reporters and asked to not be identified.
It renews his request to raise $580 billion in revenue by limiting deductions and closing loopholes for top earners. Obama again seeks adoption of the Buffett rule, named for billionaire investorWarren Buffett, to impose a 30 percent minimum tax on households with more than $1 million in annual income.
The administration projects the deficit for fiscal 2014 would be $744 billion, or 4.4 percent of the economy. That would mark the first budget shortfall of less than $1 trillion since Obama took office.
The revenue proposals have been previously rejected by Republicans and party leaders yesterday indicated they’ve seen nothing that will change their minds.
“It sounds like the White House just tossed last year’s budget into the microwave,” Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said.
