THURSDAY NEWS LINKS:

Obama Introduces Budget With a Trim to Social Security and a Raise in Tobacco Taxes

Posted byHoumanitarian
INTERACTIVE_ Dive deep into the budget
INTERACTIVE: Dive deep into the budget
(Washington Post)

Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Mixing modest curbs on spending with tax increases reviled by Republicans, President Barack Obama proposed a $3.8 trillion budget on Wednesday that would raise taxes on smokers and wealthy Americans and trim Social Security benefits for millions.

Obama’s 2014 blueprint combines a $242 billion infusion of new spending for road and rail projects, early education and jobs initiatives — all favored by Democrats — with longer-term savings from programs including Medicare and the military. It promises at least a start in cutting huge annual federal deficits.

The president pitched his plan as a good-faith offer to his GOP rivals since it incorporates a proposal he made to Republicans in December that wasn’t radically different from a GOP plan drafted by House Speaker John Boehner. But it follows January’s bitterly fought 10-year, $600 billion-plus tax increase that has stiffened GOP resolve against further tax hikes.

“I have already met Republicans more than halfway, so in the coming days and weeks I hope that Republicans will come forward and demonstrate that they’re really as serious about the deficit and debt as they claim to be,” Obama said.

He was having a dozen Senate Republicans to the White House for dinner Wednesday evening in hopes of building a dialogue on the budget and other topics.

After four years of trillion-dollar-plus deficits in his first term, Obama’s plan projects a $973 billion deficit for the current budget year and red ink of $744 billion for the 2014 fiscal year starting in October. By 2016, the deficit is seen as dropping below 3 percent of the size of the economy, a level that many economists say is manageable.

Obama cast his budget as a compromise offer that would bridge differences between Republicans and their desire for reducing government spending and Democrats who want more revenue from taxpayers. But it’s difficult to overstate the gulf between Obama and the conservatives who are in the GOP driver’s seat in Congress.

While the budget proposal will not prompt any immediate congressional action, it will probably surface this summer when Republicans are expected to demand additional reductions in the deficit in exchange for increasing the nation’s borrowing authority.
Read more of this story at the Washington Post

LOCAL AREA HEADLINES:

STATE, NATION & WORLD: