President Barack Obama sent the final budget proposal of his presidency to Congress today, a record $4.1 trillion plan that includes a number of aspirational progressive proposals with more realistic ones for cybersecurity, cancer research and fighting the Islamic State group.
"This budget is not about looking back at the road we have traveled. It is about looking forward. It is about making sure our economy works for everybody, not just those at the top," said Obama in an accompanying statement to Congress, according to USA Today. "The budget is a roadmap to a future that embodies America's values and aspirations: a future of opportunity and security for all of our families; a rising standard of living; and a sustainable, peaceful planet for our kids."
The 182-page spending plan - which is for the budget year that starts Oct. 1, just over three months before Obama leaves office - projects a deficit $616 billion for 2016, much higher than the Congressional Budget Office's last forecast of $544 billion, according to Reuters. Over 10 years, the plan would grow deficits to 2.8 percent of the economy and increase the national debt from $19 trillion to $27.4 trillion, which the administration says is stable as a share of the economy, according to USA Today.
To help counter the worsening deficit outlook, the plan proposes increasing taxes by $2.6 trillion over the next decade, almost double the amount of new taxes Obama asked for and failed to get last year, according to ABC News. This includes a proposed $10-per-barrel tax on fuel oil, which would raise an estimated $319 billion over the next decade and fund "clean" transportation projects.
The plan also proposes $19 billion to improve the government's cyberdefenses, $19 billion to fund NASA, $11 billion to fight the Islamic State group, $3.4 billion to improve European defenses in order to discourage Russian aggression, $3.1 billion for technology modernization at various agencies and $1 billion for cancer research. Obama also asked for $69.4 billion in discretionary funds for education – $1.1 billion more than last year – along with $4 billion to expand computer science education and $2 billion for college Pell grants for needy students, according to the Washington Post.
GOP lawmakers said the president's proposal would not be approved by Congress. "President Obama will leave office having never proposed a budget that balances - ever," said House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., in a statement released shortly after the budget was made public. "This isn't even a budget so much as it is a progressive manual for growing the federal government at the expense of hardworking Americans." Ryan said House Republicans will counter with a balanced budget in the next few weeks.
