Barack Obama, Budget | featured news

Wednesday morning, President Barack Obama became the first Democratic president ever to propose cutting Social Security. Democrats spend so much time defending the president, it is easy to forget that even the most beloved presidents make mistakes and missteps. His new budget, which proposes a new method of calculating inflation increases in Social Security payments, is a doozy.

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham on Sunday became the first prominent Republican to publicly praise, however lukewarmly, the budget proposal the White House outlined last week. Graham said that while he believes President Barack Obama's plan is overall bad for the economy, "there are nuggets of his budget that I think are optimistic," and that could set the stage for a broad bargain to put the nation's finances on a stronger footing. He was speaking on NBC's "Meet the Press" program.

Republicans are ready to ram through the House an election-year, $3.5 trillion budget that showcases their deficit-cutting plan for revamping Medicare and slicing everything from food stamps to transportation while rejecting President Barack Obama's call to raise taxes on the rich....

President Obama wants more control over the country's budget, and plans to ask Congress for it this week.

Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says Congress can recoup "outrageous" bonuses for AIG employees through a new bank fee in President Barack Obama's proposed budget.

Administration estimates record-setting amount will drop to $1.3 trillion in 2011; Obama's proposed $3.8 trillion budget focuses on economy.

Sen. John McCain will support President Obama's plan to freeze much of the federal budget for the next three years, but said the president must also promise to veto any bills that are stuffed with pork barrel spending items.

President Barack Obama will deliver his first State of the Union address on January 27 and his budget plan on February 1, setting the tone for a second year in office marked by a long list of economic and foreign policy challenges.

The White House has told domestic agencies to assume their budgets will be frozen or even cut by 5 percent as it signals a big push to take on the deficit next year.

President Obama will propose $17 billion in spending cuts today, less than half of 1% of his budget, including cuts in weapons ...