As the clock winds down on the economically and fiscally dismal year that was, we want to highlight two stories that look forward to Washington’s plans for 2011 and beyond.
According to The Wall Street Journal, President Obama will release his fiscal year 2012 budget proposal a week late, in mid-February. The White House said the delay was necessary because of the late confirmation of its new budget director, Jacob Lew.
Below is an excerpt; please click here to read the entire story.
President Barack Obama’s budget proposal for fiscal 2012 will be released in mid-February, a little more than a week after its planned release date. The administration is scrambling to assemble what could be a pivotal document following a six-week delay in the confirmation of the White House’s new budget director, a senior administration official said Monday.
That means Mr. Obama will be releasing his budget plan for the fiscal year that begins Oct. 1, 2011 just as he prepares for difficult negotiations with House Republicans over spending for the current budget year.
The spending blueprint for fiscal 2012 could be momentous. Mr. Obama has promised spending cuts that will embody the “shared sacrifice” he says is needed to tame the $1.3 trillion budget deficit. It is also expected to launch broader debates about reshaping the U.S. tax code to make it simpler and to bring in more revenue. It also is likely to refer to changes the administration says need to be made to Social Security to secure the system’s long-term solvency as the nation’s population grows older.
Regardless of the president’s proposals, the Republicans who will be controlling the House next year have vowed to make deeper cuts. Incoming House Speaker John Boehner (R., Ohio) has pledged to reduce domestic federal spending to the levels of 2008, before the financial crisis and the recession. White House officials have said cuts of that magnitude would imperil the economic recovery.
The AP today writes that the choice to replace outgoing Administration economist Larry Summers could signal a rethinking of the President’s current economic agenda.
Below is an excerpt; please click here to read the entire story.
Among the first announcements President Barack Obama will make upon returning from his Hawaiian vacation is his choice for top economic adviser, a decision that could signal a new direction for the administration as it struggles to jumpstart the economy and wrestle down unemployment.
It’s far more than a personnel move. The replacement for the outgoing director of the National Economic Council, Lawrence Summers, will have a guiding hand in nearly every economic decision the Obama administration makes, and the president’s choice is being closely watched for signs of where he wants to take his economic agenda in the second half of his term.
With the unemployment rate at 9.8 percent, the private sector struggling to maintain steady growth and the public ranking the economy as the top concern, Obama’s handling of the issue over the coming months is certain to play a central role in his reelection bid.
The administration’s thinking on how to fill the job has evolved since Summers announced his resignation. The initial view – both inside and outside the White House – was that Obama should name a business leader to the post, in an attempt to give the private sector a greater voice in the administration
“They should be looking to take things in a new direction,” [Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington] said. “I don’t think more of the same is the answer.”
