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Obama to send $4 Trillion budget request to Congress

Other News Materials 2 February 2015 02:57 (UTC +04:00)
US President to submit a $4 trillion budget proposal for 2016 to a Republican-controlled Congress
Obama to send $4 Trillion budget request to Congress

US President Barack Obama will submit a $4 trillion budget proposal for 2016 to a Republican-controlled Congress that will include increased spending in areas such as middle-class economic policies, precision medicine, infrastructure and national security, along with increased taxes on the wealthy, which Republicans are expected to strongly oppose, RIA Novosti reported.

Obama's budget, which is projected to include $3.9 trillion in total expenditures and $3.5 trillion in revenues, leaving an annual deficit of $467 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), will likely face stiff resistance from Republicans who are against spending, deficits and tax increases.

The US president and Congress must come to an agreement on a fiscal budget or else the US government could face another partial shutdown of operations as it did in 2013.

"To make these common-sense investments in our future without adding to our deficits, we need to turn the page on the manufactured crises that have defined the debates over our budget in recent years. Our recovery was held back when Congress shut down the government and risked the full faith and credit of the United States. We can't afford to do that again," Obama said in a blog post on Jan.30.

Obama's budget also calls for doing away with a budget reduction mechanism called sequestration, put in place as part of a reluctant compromise between the White House and Capitol Hill in 2011, which automatically cuts defense and domestic programs based on set limits.

"If Congress rejects my plan and refuses to undo these arbitrary cuts, it will threaten our economy and our military," Obama stressed.

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