Deep Dive: President’s Budget Request

Presidential budget requests are always projections and wish lists. A president can put anything in their budget to make the numbers sing the fiscal tune they wish. Whether or not they can get lawmakers to sing along is the real trick.

A major concern is that Congress will take any proposed spending boosts to either defense or domestic agencies but resist the revenue raisers intended to reduce the deficit impact. With a more than $30 trillion debt and the cost of servicing that debt rising to more than a trillion dollars in 10 years, the country can’t afford more of that fiscal trajectory.

Each year when the President’s budget is released, we dig into the details identifying programs and policies that should be cut or eliminated if we are serious about cleaning house. And throughout the year, we read the draft Congressional appropriations bills and bring you all the details. We read the bills, so you don’t have to.