WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama will ask Congress to boost government spending by roughly 7 percent above current spending limits, the White House said Thursday, setting up a certain clash with Republicans who insist that federal spending must be held in check.
Obama’s budget, to be formally released Monday, will call for $74 billion more than the levels frozen in place by across-the-board cuts agreed to by both Democrats and Republicans and signed by Obama into law. The White House said his new budget proposals will “fully reverse” the so-called sequestration cuts by increasing spending on the domestic side and by boosting spending on the country’s defense by a similar amount.
Under Obama’s proposal, national security programs would see an increase of $38 billion over current spending limits, raising the military budget to $561 billion. On the domestic side, Obama is calling for $530 billion in spending — an increase of $37 billion.
“If Congress rejects my plan and refuses to undo these arbitrary cuts, it will threaten our economy and our military,” Obama warned in an op-ed article Thursday in The Huffington Post.
The proposal from the president, two months after voters booted his party from control of the Senate, reflects the White House’s newfound confidence in the economy. Obama’s aides believe that improving conditions give Obama credibility to push his spending priorities unabashedly — despite the fact that Republicans still believe government spends far too much.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
