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WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama sent Congress a $3.73 trillion budget proposal that highlights the partisan divide bound to shape next year's presidential race.
Obama administration officials say the 2012 spending plan submitted Monday would cut the soaring US deficit over the long haul, while investing in America's future with spending on clean energy, education and high speed rail.
Republicans, who took control of the House of Representatives last month in part because of voter anger over soaring deficits, said Obama's plan represented a feeble attempt to cut the government's debt. They were ready to start pushing through their own package of deep cuts in domestic spending through the House of Representatives.
Eager to please their conservative tea party supporters, Republicans were championing $61 billion in cuts to hundreds of programs for the remaining seven months of this federal fiscal year under a bill the House planned to debate Tuesday.
The volunteer community service program AmeriCorps and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which broadcasts such shows as children's favorite ''Sesame Street,'' would be completely erased, while deep cuts would be carved from programs for feeding poor women and children and training people for jobs.
Reductions of that magnitude this late in a fiscal year would have a jarring impact on many programs. The Republican-run House planned to approve the measure on Thursday.
The proposed reductions set up a potential showdown with the White House. Republicans included their cuts in a must-pass bill financing the government, which otherwise runs out of money on March 4. The Democratic-controlled Senate and Obama himself are sure to reject them.
''We have consistently said it's not our intention to shut down this government,'' House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said Monday of one possibility should there be an impasse. ''That's political talk and we ought to get that off the table and we ought to go about the real business of trying to cut spending.''
Democrats were not inclined to let Republicans off easy. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi warned that college students, police officers and children would be among those victimized.
''House Republicans are going too far, sacrificing Americans' health, safety and future in order to protect the special interests,'' she said in a written statement.
Meanwhile, White House budget director Jacob Lew was kicking off the administration's defense of its 2012 budget on Capitol Hill with an appearance Tuesday before the House Budget Committee.
In his budget proposal unveiled Monday, Obama, who is expected to seek re-election next year, largely ignored the politically painful recommendations of his own bipartisan deficit commission. That panel had warned that the United States is imperiled without significant cuts to huge entitlement programs, including health and pension plans for the elderly.
Still, Obama called his new budget one of ''tough choices and sacrifices.'' He proposed trimming the deficits by $1.1 trillion over a decade. The administration is projecting that the deficit will hit an all-time high of $1.65 trillion this year and then drop sharply to $1.1 trillion in 2012, with an expected improvement in the economy and as reductions in some taxes expire.
Obama's plan that mixes tax increases on the wealthy and some businesses, a five-year freeze on most domestic programs, and boosts for elementary schools, clean energy and airport security. The outline is a first step in what is likely to be a bitter partisan fight as Congress translates it into a parade of tax and spending bills.
Lew told reporters that the president's budget was a ''meaningful down payment'' in attacking the deficits that would get the country's finances headed in the right direction.
The $14 trillion national debt _ the cumulative total of deficits _ would grow to $16.7 trillion by Sept. 30, 2012, Obama's budget projects. Much of that debt is owed to China.
The budget plan would trim spending at the State Department, while maintaining significant funds for programs in Afghanistan and Pakistan as well as Iraq, where US diplomats will face serious challenges as American troops continue to withdraw.
The budget retains major assistance programs for US allies in the Middle East, including $1.5 billion for Egypt despite the recent ouster of President Hosni Mubarak. Officials stressed, however, that money for Egypt, including $1.3 billion in military aid, could be altered depending on developments.
Israel is slated for $5.6 billion, including $3.1 billion in military aid.
The proposed budget foresees reductions for development funds in Africa and Latin America. It would eliminate direct military assistance totaling $5 million for five countries _ Chile, Haiti, Malta, East Timor and Tonga.
The projected $1.65 trillion deficit for the current year would be the highest dollar amount ever, surpassing the $1.41 trillion deficit hit in 2009.
