Obama’s $3.8T Budget Heading To Congress

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama’s 2010 budget proposal is dripping with red ink.

A congressional official says the $3.8 trillion plan, which will be released tomorrow, would add up to a record-breaking $1.6 trillion budget deficit in the current fiscal year, followed by a tamer $1.3 deficit in 2011.

The proposal calculates deficits over the next decade will average 4.5 percent of the size of the economy, a level economists say is dangerously high if not addressed.

The source of some of the spending? An additional $100 billion to chip away at double digit unemployment, an extension of the popular middle-class tax breaks due to expire after this year and $250 payments to Social Security recipients, among other recession-busting ideas.

But, the proposal also hopes to get a grip on the nation’s deficits with increased taxes on the wealthy and a spending freeze on many government programs.