The White House acknowledged Thursday that President Obama’s proposed federal budget for next year has little chance of passage on Capitol Hill, calling the release of the document “the beginning of a negotiation.”
“This is an important announcement because it codifies the president’s values and vision for the country,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest insisted, even while conceding that the Republican-controlled Congress would pursue a vastly different funding strategy.
Obama is calling for a 7 percent spending hike in fiscal 2016, the elimination of the so-called sequester and $320 billion in tax increases over the next decade.
The president will officially unveil his budget Monday, but Republicans say it is already dead on arrival.
Obama is calling for $530 billion in spending on the non-defense discretionary side, an increase of $37 billion over current limits. The president’s budget also proposes $561 billion in defense spending above set levels, an increase of roughly $38 billion, the White House said.
As for future budget negotiations, Earnest said the White House would like any increase in spending on defense to be matched on the discretionary side, calling such a framework “worthwhile.”
