Is Obama's 2012 budget 'irrelevant?'

The president's $3.73 trillion budget would cut more than 200 federal programs. But critics wonder if the GOP will even read it

Congress receives Obama's 2012 budget, which is reportedly a disappointment to both deficit haws and those who support job growth.
(Image credit: Getty)

The president has sent a 2012 budget to Congress, a $3.7 trillion plan that proposes a mixed menu of cuts and investments. Obama reduces or eliminates funding for more than 200 federal programs, while spending on education, infrastructure and R&D. The budget is an opening salvo in a political battle with Republicans over the scale of spending cuts in the face of spiralling U.S. debt. But with the GOP dedicated to a far more severe program of cuts, is Obama's budget simply "irrelevant"? (Watch an AP report about Obama's proposal)

No, it's instructive: This budget has "substantive and political significance," says Steve Benen at Washington Monthly. The menu of "painful cuts in some areas," with added spending on "forward-thinking priorities like infrastructure," will make the president appear "reasonable" in the face of the Republicans' "stark raving mad" proposals for major cuts. It's smart politics — and protects Obama from the inevitable "public backlash" to "GOP extremism".

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