Kicking off the next big budget battle with a bang, President Obama on Thursday proposed rolling back the roughly $1 trillion in automatic sequestration cuts that began in 2013 and reportedly will seek to boost spending by $74 billion, or 7 percent, over current caps.
The spending increases will be paid for in part with tax hikes on wealthy Americans.
Mr. Obama is scheduled to release his fiscal year 2016 budget on Monday but will offer a preview to the House Democratic Caucus during a Philadelphia speech on Thursday. In that speech, the president will continue pushing the narrative that the economy has rebounded and it is now time to increase spending on infrastructure, health care, education and other priorities.
By seeking to roll back all of the sequestration cuts, the White House clearly is picking a fight with Republicans, who now control both the House and Senate, but Mr. Obama appears ready and willing for that fight.
“I’m proud that since I took office, we’ve experienced the fastest period of sustained deficit reduction since the end of World War II. My budget will build on that progress with reforms to health programs, our tax code, and our broken immigration system,” Mr. Obama said in an op-ed for the Huffington Post on Thursday. “It would eliminate the trust fund loophole that allows the wealthiest Americans to avoid paying taxes on their unearned income, and use the savings to cut taxes for middle class families. If Congress passes my budget, our country would meet the key test of fiscal sustainability.”
Sequestration initially called for about $1 trillion in cuts from 2013 to 2021, though some cuts were canceled as part of a broad budget deal struck between Senate Democrats and House Republicans in late 2013.
The sequester was born out of the 2011 debt-ceiling battle, which ultimately resulted in the Budget Control Act and a so-called “supercommittee” tasked with cutting at least $1.5 trillion from the federal budget.
As an incentive to force the bipartisan committee to make a deal, the legislation called for automatic spending cuts to begin in 2013. No deal was made, and the cuts began in March 2013.
Republicans argue that there are better ways to trim the budget than across-the-board sequester cuts and are open to undoing at least some of them. But they say the president’s laser-like focus on tax increases makes a compromise difficult.
“Republicans believe there are smarter ways to cut spending than the sequester and have passed legislation to replace it multiple times, only to see the president continue to demand tax hikes. Until he gets serious about solving our long-term spending problem it’s hard to take him seriously,” said Cory Fritz, spokesman for House Speaker John A. Boehner.
Despite GOP resistance, the White House is latching on to positive economic data to argue that now is the time to increase taxes on the wealthy in order to pay for social programs and government investment.
“Fully paid for with cuts to inefficient spending programs and closing tax loopholes to make sure everyone pays their fair share, the president’s budget will be able to make critical investments in the things we need to grow,” the White House official said.
• This article is based in part on wire service reports.
• Ben Wolfgang can be reached at bwolfgang@washingtontimes.com.
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