Obama sends 2013 budget proposals to Congress

President Barack Obama is today sending Congress a new budget for fiscal year 2013 that seeks to achieve $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade, while at the same time showering billions of dollars of increased spending on areas aimed at giving the economy a quick boost. The president’s proposals are under attack from Republicans who say the ideas put forward are retreads that Congress has already rejected. The battle is likely to extend all the way to the November elections, with major decisions by Congress not expected until a lame duck session late in the year. In a fact sheet previewing the budget, the administration sought to cast the debate as a fight to protect the middle class following decades of eroding security and a deep recession. Obama is scheduled to speak later today to students at Northern Virginia Community College to highlight a new $8 billion proposal that aims to boost the ability of the nation’s community colleges to train students for the jobs of the future. Obama’s spending plan for the budget year that begins Oct. 1 projects a deficit for this year of $1.33 trillion. That would mean four straight years of deficits exceeding a trillion dollars. Under Obama’s outline, the deficit would decline to $901 billion in 2013 with continued improvements shrinking the deficit to $575 billion in 2018. Get more detail on the presidents’ proposals from The Associated Press here.