Obama to Propose Budget Cuts

Get ready for the week ahead: Obama will propose some considerable budget cuts tomorrow. They’ll be less than the likely Republican proposals, but will still promise a sizeable $1.1 trillion in deficit reductions over the next decade, says a senior administration official. Many domestic programs the president supports are on the chopping block: Forestry and public-health programs, as well as home energy assistance to low-income families. By 2015, the country would be running a deficit of 3 percent of GDP, down from three times that level now. Unlike Republicans, Obama plans to reduce military spending. “We’re going from an environment where, if something was for defense, it was outside of normal budgetary discipline,” says a White House official. Like the Republicans, though, the president isn’t tackling long-term budget-busting entitlement programs like Medicare.