Collins opposes proposed budget from president

“The budget that we’re releasing today reflects my priorities and the priorities that I believe will help advance security and prosperity in America for many years to come”, Obama said Tuesday.

It also includes more than $11 billion for the Departments of Defense and State to fight Islamic State militants and stabilize Syria – one measure that could draw bipartisan support.

The president’s budget includes $10.1 billion in 2017 for F-35s across the force: 43 F-35A’s for the Air Force, 16 F-35B’s for the Marine Corps and 4 F-35C’s for the Navy. But House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., joined with his GOP colleagues in swearing they would never seriously consider any portion of the Obama budget. Our unemployment rate is below five percent for the first time in nearly eight years. His proposal for a $10-per-barrel tax on oil would support desperately needed infrastructure investment and create jobs. The US Congress – both the House of Representatives and the Senate – would debate threadbare over the next several months before it passes the budget. The administration announced they would use the money to fund billions of dollars in alternative transportation programs as part of the president’s efforts to deal with global warming.

Much of the deficit problem stems from the surge in spending on benefit programs like Social Security and Medicare, whose budgets are predicted to soar with the retirement of millions of baby boomers.

And although the Obama administration expects the debt to remain relatively stable as a share of the economy, that projection is based on a set of assumptions: The economy will continue to grow by about 2.5% over the next decade.

Many of Obama’s new tax hikes violate the spirit – if not the letter – of Obama’s “firm pledge” against “any form of tax increase” on any American earning less than $250,000.

Obama, a Democrat who leaves office next January, sought to outline his fiscal and political vision for the country with proposed investments in infrastructure, cyber security, education, and job growth.

“Fortunately”, he added, “thanks to House and Senate Republicans, this budget is also dead on arrival”.

“It doesn’t matter if there’s a Democratic president or a Republican president”, Obama said.

The project also comes with a new federal chief information officer appointed and a focus on attracting cyber-professionals to work for the government, including scholarships and forgiving students loans.

Although there is little chance that the budget will be passed in the Congress, there are some areas that the White House and the Congress can agree on, such as funding for cancer research and expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit to childless adults.

Obama is asking Congress for a $19 billion boost in cybersecurity funding across all government agencies – an increase of more than 35 percent from previous year.