–Obama’s FY’13 Budget Sees Deficits Of $1.33T in FY’12, $901B in FY’13
–Obama’s FY’13 Budget: Seeks $1.5T in Additional Revenues
–Obama’s FY’13 Budget Calls For $3.8 Trillion In FY’13 Outlays

By John Shaw

WASHINGTON (MNI) – President Obama released Monday his fiscal year
2013 budget and it says the president’s plan would secure about $3
trillion in deficit reduction over ten years.

“This plan is a balanced one that asks everyone to do their part,”
Obama says in his budget overview.

The budget projects a $1.33 trillion deficit for FY’12, the current
fiscal year. This is slightly above the actual FY’11 deficit of $1.296
trillion. The Congressional Budget Office estimated a few weeks ago that
the FY’12 deficit will be $1.08 trillion.

For FY’13, the president’s budget would spend about $3.8 trillion
and take in about $2.9 trillion of revenues.

The budget argues that if the president’s policies are approved,
the deficit will fall to $901 billion in FY’13.

Obama’s budget calls for $1.5 trillion in additional revenues, with
higher taxes proposed on some corporations, upper income earners and
hedge funds. Much of this additional revenue will come from allowing
many of the Bush era tax cuts to expire at the end of the year for those
with annual incomes of more than $250,000.

Obama’s budget also proposes a $61 billion “financial crisis
responsibility fee” on large corporations that was outlined in his State
of the Union speech.

Obama said these tax provisions should be undertaken in the context
of “comprehensive tax reform.”

The president’s fiscal outline calls for about $350 billion in
short-term stimulus measures, with about half of this coming from a
year-long extension of the payroll tax cut and unemployment insurance
benefits.

The plan calls for about $580 billion in entitlement savings from
programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and agriculture subsidies.

Now with the release of Obama’s budget, the administration’s top
fiscal officials will defend the plan on Capitol Hill in a week-long
series of congressional hearings.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner is scheduled to testify to the
Senate Finance Committee at 10 a.m. Tuesday, the House Ways and Means
Committee at 10 a.m. Wednesday, the Senate Budget Committee at 10 a.m.
Thursday, and the House Budget Committee at 2 p.m. Thursday.

Jeff Zients, the acting White House budget director, will testify
to the Senate Budget Committee at 10 a.m. Tuesday and the House Budget
Committee at 10 a.m. Wednesday.

After lawmakers have gone over the president’s budget, the House
and Senate Budget Committees are charged to draft congressional budget
resolutions. These are congressional fiscal blueprints that set spending
and revenue goals and make deficit estimates. They will be unveiled in
March.

** Market News International Washington Bureau: (202) 371-2121 **

[TOPICS: M$U$$$,MFU$$$,MCU$$$,MT$$$$,MGU$$$]