FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 10, 2013
Contact:
MATTEA KRAMER 413-824-2026, mattea@nationalpriorities.org
JO COMERFORD 413-559-1649, jo@nationalpriorities.org
[Northampton, MA] – The White House today proposed a budget focused on reducing deficits largely through spending cuts, according to analysis by National Priorities Project (NPP). The budget proposes $1.8 trillion in new deficit reduction which would bring total 10-year deficit reduction to $4.3 trillion. Of that total, $1.2 trillion - less than a third – would come from new revenue through taxes on the highest income earners. No new revenue would come from corporations. The budget replaces the across-the-board cuts of sequestration with alternative means of deficit reduction.
The president’s budget would reduce Social Security cost-of-living adjustments by employing an alternate measure of inflation known as chained CPI; doing so would shave $230 billion from Social Security spending over 10 years. The budget also proposes $392 billion in budgetary savings in Medicare and other health programs, through lower prescription drug prices and higher premiums for wealthy beneficiaries, among other changes.
The budget includes $526.6 billion for the Department of Defense base budget, a figure that does not include war costs or nuclear weapons activities at the Department of Energy. That represents a 1.6 percent cut relative to current levels, and includes $8.4 billion for the purchase of 29 F-35 Joint Strike Fighters. Under this plan, the Pentagon is hit with fewer cuts than if sequestration took effect. The budget does not specify funding levels for operations in Afghanistan.
In total, President Obama projects $3.8 trillion in new spending in fiscal 2014. Other highlights of the budget include $166 billion over 10 years for job creation measures such as infrastructure repairs, expanded mandatory funding for Pell grants, and universal access to prekindergarten education funded with new taxes on tobacco products.
“A nation’s budget is an indication of values,” said Mattea Kramer, NPP’s Research Director. “President Obama today proposed deeply unpopular cuts in Social Security, while also proposing new funding for education with universal prekindergarten – something that opinion polls suggest would be popular. This is a chance to assess whether our president’s values match up with those of the American people.”
See full analysis of the President’s budget here. See a comparison of the president’s budget to House and Senate budgets and to public opinion here.
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About the National Priorities Project:
National Priorities Project (NPP) is a non-partisan, non-profit organization that makes our complex federal budget transparent and accessible so people can exercise their right and responsibility to influence how their tax dollars are spent. NPP believes the U.S. federal budget will reflect the values and priorities of a majority of Americans when all people have the opportunity and ability to participate in shaping our nation's budget.
