US President George W. Bush proposed on Monday to boost defense spending, reduce Medicare's growth and cut a host of domestic programs in a US$2.77 trillion budget that sought to soothe Republican frustrations over high deficits.
With congressional elections looming in November, the fiscal 2007 blueprint came under swift attack from Democrats, who said the elderly and working Americans would bear the brunt of Bush's fiscal mismanagement.
Republican Senator Arlen Specter said Bush's proposed funding cuts for health and education were "scandalous." Specter chairs a Senate panel that oversees spending on such programs.
He was particularly critical of the White House's call for eliminating an anti-drug program and a new blood stem cell bank, as well as proposed funding levels for the National Institutes of Health, Centers for Disease Control and the "Head Start" education program for low-income preschoolers.
The Bush plan would cut discretionary programs outside national security by 0.5 percent. Bush wants to pare back or scrap 141 programs, with education, cancer research and community policing programs slated to take a hit.
But Bush proposed a record US$439.3 billion defense budget, up 4.8 percent from last year. On top of that, the White House will seek new financing for wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The president renewed his call for the Republican-led Congress to make his tax cuts permanent even as he projected a surge in the federal deficit to US$423 billion this year, up more than US$100 billion from fiscal 2005.
However, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office on Monday released its new fiscal 2006 budget deficit estimate of about US$355 billion.
Bush said failing to extend his tax cuts would amount to a tax increase.
But congressional Democrats said his plan masked the depth of fiscal problems by ignoring the long-term impact of the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts, which they said would cost US$1.5 trillion between 2012 and 2016 if they are fully renewed.
"The tax cuts explode after five years," said Senator Kent Conrad, of North Dakota, senior Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee.
Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada called the budget document "immoral and irresponsible."
"After creating record deficits and debt with his budget busting tax breaks, the president is asking our seniors, our students, and our families to clean up his fiscal mess with painful cuts in health care and student aid," Reid said.
Bush said in his budget message, "My administration has focused the nation's resources on our highest priority, protecting our citizens and our homeland."
Under the US system of checks and balances, Congress controls the money used by the president to run the government.
His annual budget is intended to inform Congress about the president's priorities to show members how the president wants them to allocate money.
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