Obama submits budget blueprint
President Obama says he can halve the deficit by 2013. (Getty Images)
(CNN) - President Obama on Thursday presented a budget that he said is an "honest accounting of where we are and where we intend to go."
Congress received a 140-page summary of the budget Thursday morning. The full details are expected in April.
In introducing the budget, Obama slammed what he called a "dishonest accounting" in regard to the costs of war, and reiterated his commitment to make government "more open and transparent."
"For too long, our budget has not told the whole truth about how precious tax dollars are spent," he said.
"Large sums have been left off the books, including the true cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan. And that kind of dishonest accounting is not how you run your family budgets at home; it's not how your government should run its budgets either."
The president said his budget includes investments in renewable energy, education, and health care - priorities he outlined during his address to a joint session of Congress on Tuesday.
Obama is not an american citizen he was born in kenya.
Why oh why do people who cannot think their way out of a soaking wet paper bag with high powered lasers spew their "opinions" here?
You know nothing about how global economics work, do you? Go away, you reek of [r]epublican.
Oh, and to the "Wasteful spending" vocal puppets: Where was you righteous anger, your "generational theft" garbage when your representative was in office? Your leaders stole most of that money, and wasted what was left.
Before we start blaming the President for the millions if not billions of dollars needed to get this country back on track, let us look at the mess that was handed to him. We finally have someone in office that cares about the common people and the Republicans want to cry foul. You should have been crying years ago stating with Clinton and ending with Bush. If you cannot offer solutions that make sense, shut up and let the President work
Well, we found out what the KID will do once given the keys to the CANDY STORE. Congratulations Dems and voters of CHANGE WE NEED.
@ Brian-
Please let me know when anything your former President Bush was transparent!!!!!! Fact of the matter, we still don't know where the first half of the bailout from last year went. See, I think you fail to realize no one knew what was really going on in the past eight years. That's why we voted for CHANGE!!!!!!!
I wonder how big is Candy Crowelys carbon-footprint?
from a lot of the previous remarks it looks like no matter who's in power and what they do, the blogers of this site will always complain and whine and spin the news into some sort of pessamistic remark against their rival partyor someone they may not have elected. congrats "American's" on this sight that blog negatively, it looks like you will keep complaining and never really be happy.
If memory serves me correctly, there were huge items that were being funded outside of the main budget every year under previous Administrations that are now being all included in the present budget so that a more real budget is able to be seen by the American people. Now one example of such expenditures was the real time cost of the two wars. Now that hey have been included in the main budget it has increased to more than previous budgets. Please note that while it will increase the main budget, the cost of the hidden budget expenditures will go away because it is all out there to be seen now. The fact of the matter is that we have to fix our problem and doing it one piece at a time will never get it done.
Now there will always be those that do not feel people need help because they are doing so well and that is fine. If you are not willing to be a part of America, which is a country that is supposed to take care of it's own then you should pack up and leave. It is fine that we spend billions every year to help other nations. Well it is time we care for our own now because no other nation is going to take care of us for us.
What happened to the "Financial Responsibility Summit"??
Ohhhh... AFTER Obama submits his bloated budget!!
President Obama –
I want to see you succeed. Please remember that you will be held to a higher standard than the 43 men that preceeded you. The challenges you face are far greater. Please take care to err on the side of success.
Please take a hard line on painstakingly detailed review of each budget item. Find a way to cut spending. Cut the pet projects of Republicans ... they do exist. Claim, forever for Democrats, the mantle of FISCAL DISCIPLINE.
Re-enforce merit based review of money requests. Early on, send the signal that you are not to be triffled with by either Dems or Republicans. Do not abuse your power but make sure you use it early lest your opponents get in the habit of trying you.
So many ignorant people on this board. The blame game in full swing and thirty days after being elected; most folks can't take the fire.
Being accustom to lies seem hard to swallow the truth. All I read everyday is pork and how the national debt has trippled since January 20th. Given the average three trillion being spent and to be spent on the Iraq war, I see no one complaining about the wasteful spending of the previous administration.
My question you all conservatives is this: Is it better to waste trillions in an unjust war than to spend far less rebuilding the American economy? I will advise those who seek to under mine progress to have your blinders removed.
@ Jackie in Dallas
That debt is out there due to the unwise policies of the previous administration, and President Obama is having to spend money to clean up the mess.
Civics 101 – Congress (jointly the House and the Senate) is the only body that can p@ss a budget and spend money...
Math 101 – spending in deficit circumstances accululates debt
The House of Representatives has been controlled by DEMOCRATS for 27 of the last 39 years. During that time, the deficit decreased or we ran a surplus ONLY when Republicans controlled the House.
Don't believe it? LOOK IT UP! And stop quoting the Huffington Post talking points as if they were facts.
Funny how quickly Republicans are to blame the mess they made by stealing two elections for Bush, on President Obama. the budget is high because he is being honest and showing what your President REALLY spent and how much the war is REALLY costing us. I didn't hear you all complaing about running up the budget then..oh wait...you didn't know...he didn't tell you.
Lots of haters on this thread already. Consider this. This is a budget. It's supposed to lay out how we want to spend to fund the government. Criticizing this because it spends money on the government is like complaining that the sky is blue.
We can't afford to do nothing. It's time for the wealthy to kick in their share. If they haven't properly managed the spoils they have garnered from the last eight years and have not set themselves up to handle the tax structure Regan instituted, then the free market has decided that your operations are too fat to survive in tact. Don't conservatives argue that businesses should be allowed to fail for the good of the economic whole?
We voted the right person in office to lead this country. It's about time we're going to get the truth!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I think President Obama has a plan to uncover a lot of hidden expenditure during the Bush era. People may criticize him for finding out a lot of corrupt activities but that is part of a process when you clean house to make way for you to live in. President Obama don't have to go through all this hoopla just for himself, he is doing it for the country. If he overlook all the corruption in Washington then guest what we all will be facing a lot more of hardship, but he cares and is willing to help us find out what went wrong during the Bush era and how we have to work together to clean it up. So if you don't like how or what he is doing, move to another country.
"Obama has no clue. He has already TRIPLED the debt that he inherited IN ONE MONTH."
Uh, no. Please get your terminology right. The deficit is what has been tripled, not the debt. Bush brought the debt from $5 trillion to $14 trillion. The reason the deficit tripled is because Obama isn't hiding things like Bush did, i.e. full cost of war.
Gee, did he know about all the dollars not accounted for before he pushed the stimulus? Is he saying that the deficit is really larger than we know? I'll bet he hasn't even read his own budget. Pork, earmarks in the stimulus. He's a legend in his own mind.
It's laughable how many don't understand economics or basic addition. Folks, the strategy here is to grow the GDP in pace with the deficits. if you look at the totals through all years, only about $450 billion gets added. It's the same as someone going into debt to get a degree so they can get a higher-paying job.
President Obama has presented to most realistic and prudent Budget in 8 years. Yeah for President Obama!!!!!!
This is not a budget...its a blueprint for outright disaster and national suicide.
It's mind-boggling how senior, experienced elected officials can fall in step with this greenhorn without asking questions.
Am I the only one disturbed by that?
Rick, you have no clue, to remind you President Obama is only cleaning up the MESS that YOU and the REPUBLICANS created in America.
Hahaha...you all complain that we are in such a great deficit...what do you think this stimulus bill will do??? Get us in to more debt! Why are you so blind that you cannot see that? There is no way Obama will half the deficit when he says he will...
Let me repeat this...the stimulus bill will get the United States FURTHER into debt. INCREASING DEBT!
How we do our budgets at home?!?!?
We don't have deficits, that's how we do it at home and something Obama should try.
Please dimocrats, don't say, "well GWB did it". You say it was wrong that GWB ran a large deficit, so why is it now right if Obama does it? Hypocrites!!!! And GWB's deficit will look minor compared to Obama's.
And to get the matter straight, Clinton left GWB with a deficit! Look it up before you start spewing inaccuracies as if they are true, (but then again, you are all sheep who blindly follow). And Obama will leave office in 4 years probably doubling the combined deficit of Clinton and GWB