Obama sends Congress record $4.1 trillion 2017 spending plan

But a softening economic outlook, combined with a round of tax cuts and increased spending enacted by Congress last year, will make the deficit problem about $1.5 trillion worse over the coming 10 years, according to the latest Congressional Budget Office estimate. Still, the proposal includes some bipartisan overtures, and it offers important insight into what the president hopes to accomplish during his past year in office. “We understand that not everything is going to actually get taken up and passed this year, but we’re sort of laying the groundwork and putting out solutions that are sort of long term”, an unnamed Obama administration official told The New York Times. Large organizations, anxious about macro-economic trends, will see smaller increases, and small to mid-sized firms will be spending more, said John Longwell, vice president of research.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK) was pleased that Obama’s budget would help his state’s infrastructure, but was concerned about the price Americans will pay with the proposed tax increases.

He warned that some House Republicans who want to reduce spending further are threatening to “blow up” last fall’s $1.1 trillion spending deal, which imposes a top-line figure on 2017 discretionary spending.

“The budget we are releasing today reflects my priorities and the priorities I believe will help advance the security and prosperity of America”, Obama said.

Republicans dismissed the measure as unworkable.

The leaders of the House and Senate budget committees jointly announced they would not invite Mr Obama’s budget director to testify before them.

The deficit will rise from $438 billion to $616 billion because of tax cuts congressional Republicans insisted the president agree to last December as part of a budget resolution avoiding a potential government shutdown. House Speaker Rep. Paul Ryan also made his voice heard, referring to Obama’s budget as a “progressive manual for growing the federal government”, writing it off as dead on arrival.

The Obama administration is calling for $1 billion in new funding over two years for treatment of heroin and prescription drug addiction.

The move would put the successful candidate in charge of the federal “cybersecurity policy and strategy”, the listing said.

“The new, heavy icebreaker will assure year-round accessibility to the Arctic region for Coast Guard missions including protection of Alaska’s maritime environment and resources”, the White House said in an Alaska fact sheet accompanying release of the budget. It includes $1.4 billion for a new Federal Bureau of Investigation building, a project that has received some funding from the GOP-controlled Congress. Barbara A. Mikulski of Maryland, the top-ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee.

The administration’s final wish list for Congress includes multibillion-dollar investments in areas such as clean energy, education and job growth, paid for mostly by tax hikes on big banks and the wealthy.

The Obama administration on Tuesday rejected a Republican suggestion to use money Congress provided to fight the Ebola virus to combat the Zika virus and mosquitoes that spread it.

It calls for $152 billion in research and development, an increase of 4 percent over fiscal year 2016, including funding for an effort to cure cancer, which is spearheaded by Vice President Joe Biden.