U.S. president looking to restrain discretionary spending
Administration officials say U.S. President Barack Obama will announce a proposal for a three-year spending freeze on some domestic programs during his State of the Union address Wednesday night. The proposal would apply to discretionary funding, which is used by domestic agencies with a congressionally-approved budget. Discretionary spending represented $477 billion of the $3.5 trillion budget last year. It is expected to grow by 10 per cent in 2010, adding to a deficit already projected to reach $1.3 trillion this year alone. Obama wants the freeze to start in 2011, which would initially lead to a small savings of $15 billion—a number that could grow to $250 billion over the next ten years. Critics on the left claim the White House shouldn’t be cutting spending while trying to fix the ailing economy, while Republicans, fresh off a major Senate victory in Massachusetts, insist the government should do more to cut into ballooning deficits.