Bush Unveils Record-Busting $3T Budget

Critics on both sides immediately pounce on 'irresponsible' plan

By Sam Gale Rosen, Newser Staff

Posted Feb 4, 2008 3:18 PM CST

Copied

Bush Unveils Record-Busting $3T Budget — President Bush, center, hold a laptop computer showing the electronic version of the fiscal 2009 Federal Budget, Monday, Feb. 4, 2008, during a meeting with members of his cabinet in the Cabinet Room of the White House in Washington. At left is Secreatry of State Condoleezza Rice, at right is Defense... (Associated Press)

As expected, President Bush unveiled a record-busting $3.1 trillion federal budget plan today. It met fierce opposition from congressional Democrats—as well as some Republicans, reports the New York Times. Harry Reid called the budget “fiscally irresponsible and highly deceptive, hiding the costs of the war in Iraq while increasing our skyrocketing debt."

Bush insists the budget will keep the US safe and wealthy, despite the mounting deficits built into his plan. "We are now on a path to balance the budget by 2012," he said today. But high defense spending, education cuts, and Bush's lame-duck status make the budget unlikely to clear the Democratic-controlled Congress. (More George W. Bush stories.)

Report an error