US President Barack Obama”s administration is set to unveil its detailed 2010 budget, pushing ahead with its spending blueprint topping three trillion dollars despite deficit and debt concerns.
Officials said on the eve of the comprehensive budget rollout Thursday that the administration would trim a modest 17 billion dollars from the plan that was approved by Congress last month.
The cuts would involve 121 programs, half of which were defense related, the officials said, rejecting suggestions that the savings were miniscule.
“Seventeen billion dollars, I think, to anyone”s accounting is a significant amount of money, again that in one year alone,” said one official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“This is an important first step but it is not the end of the process. We will continue to look for additional savings,” the official said.
There are also about 80 new programs that had been inserted into the budget, officials said, without identifying them.
Obama”s first budget since his landmark entry to the White House on January 20 will lay the foundation for his policy initiatives on health care, energy and education, but the spending plan would push deficit and debt levels to new highs.
