03.49 am, Tuesday February 14 2012

Obama bids to cut deficit in 2011 budget

22:18 AEDT Mon Feb 1 2010
By Stephen Collinson
VIEWS: 0
| FLOCKS: 0
| comments0 comments so far
Also on
Firing lineDad's Facebook revenge Diva diesPrescription pills found in room babyliciousBeyonce shows off baby pub attackMan cut with chainsaw love itBeauty looks for Valentine's Day diddly?TV's worst couples

US President Barack Obama will on Monday unveil a $US3.834 trillion ($A4.36 trillion) 2011 budget, designed to balance the dire need to create jobs with an effort to cut huge deficits, senior US officials say.

The budget the White House will send to Congress includes a three-year freeze on non-security discretionary spending, billions of dollars in new job creation packages and extra education and homeland security spending.

It foresees a deficit of $US1.267 trillion ($A1.44 trillion), down from a record $US1.556 trillion ($A1.77 trillion) in 2010, and abandons a US bid to send men back to the moon, by cutting the Constellation next-generation space vehicle program.

The Obama administration said the 2011 budget is aimed at dealing with the aftermath of the financial, fiscal, housing and unemployment crises, and to put the United States on a path to long-term economic security.

"This budget embodies the president's efforts to deal with all those situations," said Obama's communications director Dan Pfeiffer, who said the budget contained "tough choices" in a bid to curb spending.

The budget will also sketch the political debate in the run-up to mid-term congressional elections in November, in which Obama's Democrats, paying the price for high unemployment, fear heavy losses.

Republicans are trying to brand Obama as a big-spending liberal, but the administration says new growth figures last week showing a 5.7 per cent expansion in the economy in the past quarter prove his policies are working.

The administration says that the deficit will stand at $US1.267 trillion ($A1.44 trillion) in 2011, which will represent 8.3 per cent of Gross Domestic Product, compared to 10.6 per cent of GDP in 2010.

Republicans and some conservative Democrats have raised the alarm at high government spending, which has swelled the deficit, and the issue has been a source of considerable political pressure for Obama.

But some analysts warn it is too early to focus on cutting deficits and fear the tactic risks slowing the spending needed to stimulate the economy and generate jobs.

Obama's budget chief Peter Orszag told reporters that the administration thought it had the balance right, between spurring recovery and making a start of trimming deficits which pose a grave long-term economic threat.

"Federal spending is a little like an aircraft carrier, you have to start turning the ship well ahead of time," he said.

The 2011 budget contains more than $US300 billion ($A341.3 billion) in tax cuts for families and businesses over the next 10 years and includes 120 terminations of programs and savings of $US20 billion ($A22.75 billion).

"One of the key things we are focusing on, is jump-starting job creation," said Orszag, who heads the president's Office of Management and Budget.

To that end, there is $US100 billion ($A113.77 billion) for job-creating investments in small businesses, tax cuts and clean energy, designed to start bringing down the current 10 per cent unemployment rate.

The budget will extend tax cuts for working families, eliminate the capital gains tax on small businesses and allow tax cuts introduced by former president George W Bush to expire for people earning more than $US250,000 ($A284,415) a year.

As the administration combines a push for green energy development with deficit cutting, the budget will phase out fossil fuel subsidies for oil, gas and coal companies to raise $US40 billion ($A45.5 billion) over 10 years.

Following the thwarted bid by an al-Qaeda affiliated group in Yemen to bring down a US airliner on Christmas Day, the budget also makes new investments in US security.

The Homeland Security Department gets a two per cent funding raise to $US43.6 billion ($A49.6 billion), which will include money to deploy of 1,000 new imaging technology screening machines and explosives detection equipment at airports.

The budget will also provide funding for more federal air marshals on international flights in a bid to ward off future attacks, the officials said.

The cost of US military operations overseas, including in Afghanistan and Pakistan, are put at $US159.3 billion ($A181.23 billion) in 2011 while the administration will make a supplemental request for 2010 of $US33 billion ($A37.54 billion) to cover war spending.

 
Whitney Houston. (AAP)Golden years VIDEO: A look back at Whitney Houston's glittering career. Whitney Houston sings onstage.Last performance VIDEO: Houston takes to the stage for impromptu song. A man wields a chainsaw in England.Chainsaw attack VIDEO: English man goes on rampage, destroying pub. A young avalanche survivor.Lone survivor VIDEO: Girl pulled from rubble 10 hours after quake. A US judge dozes in court.Dozing in court VIDEO: US judge caught sleeping behind the bench. Mercedes Maybach (AAP)Fancy flopMercedes Benz's Maybach mistake keeps on costing

Most popular

 Truck driver filmed ramming carPolice are investigating after the driver of a one-tonne truck rammed a car that was blocking the way out of a Brisbane shopping centre.
 Drowned man a 'good kid': friendsA young man who drowned in Sydney's Darling Harbour after a nightclub fight has been remembered as a "good kid".
 Lost love rekindles after 70 yearsA love story cut short by World War II was set to finally have its happy ending on Sunday.
 Body in Sydney tree identifiedPolice have identified the woman whose body was found in a Sydney tree last month as a US national.
 Induced labour lets dying man see daughterAn American woman has had her labour induced so her husband could see their baby girl before he died.
 Katy Perry fools Grammys audienceKaty Perry pulled a cheeky stunt to fool viewers into believing a technical disaster had struck midway through her Grammys performance.
 Former CFA volunteer lit fatal fire: courtA trial has heard that a former CFA volunteer told police he accidentally started a fire that killed 10 people on Black Saturday.
 Thrilling search leads to lost dog NachoA Sydney woman who launched a major Facebook campaign to find her missing dog feared she may never see him again, after a stranger informed her the people who found him had fallen in love with him.
 Dad, daughter reach 'truce' after laptop shootingThe US father who made a video of himself reading out his daughter’s Facebook post before shooting her laptop says she initially broke down but they have now reached a "semi-truce".
 Saadi Gaddafi eyes Australia to liveSaadi Gaddafi's bodyguard says his former boss would like to live in Australia after knockbacks from the Bahamas, Trinidad, and Mexico.
advertisement
Be our fan on Facebook
Most Recommended
You need the latest version of Flash Player.
Enjoy the most vivid content on the web
Watch video without extra features
Interact with applications on your favourite sites
Upgrade now

page complete