President Obama submitted his last budget to Congress last week and immediately the Republican leadership called it dead on arrival and do not even plan to hold a hearing on the $4.15 trillion Fiscal Year 2017 budget.
The proposed budget would increase spending by 4.9 percent, mainly as a result of mandatory spending, primarily Social Security and interest on the national debt. Discretionary spending would increase by less than one percent. The budget would increase spending in clean energy, education, research and health care. The budget calls for reducing the deficit by $2.9 trillion over 10 years. To reach this goal, the budget includes new taxes such as raising the top rate on capital gains, a new fee on the largest financial firms, $10-a-barrel tax on oil, closing “inefficient tax breaks for the wealthy,” and closing loopholes for high-income households.
