Lost Lake Tribune March 3, 2009 The 2010 US Budget edition

President Obama's Budget Will Not Pass Easily Through the Congress. WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama's proposed tax increases are being met with misgivings by both Republicans and Democrats in Congress as he sends his Treasury secretary to Capitol Hill to defend them. Lawmakers in both parties question Obama's call to reduce high-income earners' tax deductions for the interest on their house payments and for charitable contributions. Also drawing fire is his proposal to start taxing industries on their greenhouse gas pollution -- a move sure to raise consumers' electric rates. Obama and his top aides have been promoting the budget package since unveiling an outline last week, but Tuesday will provide the lawmakers their first opportunity to publicly question top officials about the details. Administration officials say the nation's economic crisis requires bold action to right the economy and expand access to health care while providing tax breaks to middle- and low-income families. The economy took another hit Monday when the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged below 7,000 for the first time since 1997. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner is scheduled to appear Tuesday before the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, which also is likely to question him about Obama's declaration last week that he may be asking Congress this year for another $750 billion bailout for troubled banks. Meanwhile, White House Budget Director Peter Orszag was to testify Tuesday before the House Budget Committee on Obama's spending priorities in the administration's $3.5 trillion budget blueprint for the 2010 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1. Obama has been careful throughout the presidential campaign and since being elected to say he would impose higher taxes only on the wealthiest. Republicans, however, say Obama's energy proposal amounts to a tax that would increase energy costs for all Americans. "This massive hidden energy tax is going to work its way through every aspect of American life," said Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, the top Republican on the Ways and Means Committee. "How we light our homes, heat our homes and pay for the gas in our cars, in every phase of our daily lives, we will be paying higher costs." Under the energy plan, Obama wants to reduce the emissions blamed for global warming by auctioning off carbon pollution permits. The proposal, known as cap and trade, is projected to raise $646 billion over 10 years. Most of the money would be used to pay for Obama's "Making Work Pay" tax credit, which provides up to $400 a year to individuals and $800 a year to couples. The plan also would raise money for clean-fuel technologies, such as solar and wind power. Orszag has acknowledged that the energy proposal would increase costs for consumers, but he argues that the vast majority of consumers will get tax breaks elsewhere in Obama's budget package. President Obama's budget plan is prefaced with these comments: Over the decades, the United States has grown and prospered when all Americans have shared in the opportunities created by our economy. Bottom-up growth that empowers hardworking families to climb the ladder of success and raise their children with security, opportunity, and hope for the future lies at the heart of the American dream. It is the responsibility of our elected leaders to create the conditions for our people to aim high, work hard, and realize the full promise of American life. yet for far too long, the resilience, optimism, and industriousness of the American people have been frustrated by irresponsible policy choices in Washington. Prudent investments in education, clean energy, health care, and infrastructure were sacrificed for huge tax cuts for the wealthy and well-connected. In the face of these trade-offs, Washington has ignored the squeeze on middle-class families that is making it harder for them to get ahead. Our Government has spent taxpayer money without making sure the numbers add up and without making it clear and understandable to the American people where their money was being spent. Tough choices have been avoided, and we have failed to make the wise investments we need to compete in a global, information-age economy. While middle-class families have been playing by the rules, living up to their responsibilities as neighbors and citizens, those at the commanding heights of our economy have not. They have taken risks and piled on debts that while seemingly profitable in the short-term, have now proven tobe dangerous not only for their individual firms but for the economy as a whole. With loosenedoversight and weak enforcement from Washington, too many cut corners as they racked uprecord profits and paid themselves millions of dollars in compensation and bonuses. There’snothing wrong with making money, but there is something wrong when we allow the playing field to be tilted so far in the favor of so few. This is the legacy that we inherit—a legacy of mismanagement and misplaced priorities, of missed opportunities and of deep, structural problems ignored for too long. It’s a legacy of irresponsibility, and it is our duty to change it. The 2010 Fiscal Year (October 1, 2009- September 1, 2010)Budget by the Democrat includes $32.9 (which includes 6.9 from the American Recovery Act (ARA)) Billion for the Deptartment of Agriculture $22.8 (7.9 B from the ARA) Billion for the Dept. of Commerce $671.1 (7.4 B from the ARA) Billion for the Dept. of Defense $127.8 (81.1 B from the ARA) Billion for the Dept. of Education $65.0 (38.7 B from the ARA) Billion for the Dept. of Energy $99.2 (22.4 B from the ARA) Billion for the Dept. of Health and Human Services $45.5 (2.8 B from the ARA) Billion for the Dept. of Homeland Security $61.1 (13.6 B form the ARA) Billion for the Dept. of Housing and Urban Development $15.0 (3.0 B from the ARA) Billion for the Dept. of the Interior $30.5 (4.0 B from the ARA) Billion for the Dept. of Justice $16.1 (4.8 B from the ARA) Billion for the Dept. of Labor $52.3 (700 Million from the ARA) Billion for the Dept. of State $130.6 (48.1 B from the ARA) Billion for the Dept. of Transportation $13.6 (300 Million from the ARA) Billion for the Dept. of the Treasury $57.3 (1.4 B from the ARA) Billion for the Dept. of Veterans Affairs $9.7 (4.6 B from the ARA) Billion for the Dept. of Civil Works $17.7 (7.2 B from the ARA) Billion for the EPA $19.7 (1.0 B from the ARA) Billion for NASA $10.0 (3.0 B from the ARA) Billion for the National Science Foundation $1.4 (0.7 B from the ARA) Billion for Small Business Administration $12.7 (1.1 B from the ARA) Billion for Social Security $1.3 (200 Million from the ARA) Billion for the Corporation for National and Community Service $695 Billion for Social Security $453 Billion for Medicaid $290 Billion for Medicare $575 Billion for "Other Mandatory programs" $178 Billion for Net Interest $11 Billion for disaster relief This adds up to more than 3.704 Trillion Dollars for 2010. For more information and news read the March 7th Edition of the Lost Lake Tribune! benfugate2005@yahoo.com Infromation gained from http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/03/03/lawmakers-whack-obama-budget-plan/ AND http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/assets/fy2010_new_era/A_New_Era_of_Responsibility2.pdf