Bush Unveils $3.1 Trillion Spending Plan

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Filed at 11:16 a.m. ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- President Bush unveiled a $3.1 trillion budget on Monday that supports sizable increases in military spending to fight the war on terrorism and protects his signature tax cuts. Bush says the plan will keep the U.S. economy growing and protect the U.S. militarily.

Bush reviewed the budget with his Cabinet. He held aloft a computer tablet that contained the budget details.''This is a good, solid budget,'' the president said. ''It's not only an innovative budget in that it's coming to Congress over the Internet. It's a budget that's balanced -- gets to balance in 2012 and saves taxpayers money.''

The spending proposal, which shows the government spending $3 trillion in a 12-month period for the first time in history, squeezes most of government outside of national security, and also seeks $196 billion in savings over the next five years in the government's giant health care programs -- Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor.

Even with those savings, Bush projects that the deficits, which had been declining, will soar to near-record levels, hitting $410 billion this year and $407 billion in 2009. The all-time high deficit in dollar terms was $413 billion in 2004.

Democrats attacked Bush's final spending plan as a continuation of this administration's failed policies which wiped out a projected 10-year surplus of $5.6 trillion and replaced it with a record buildup in debt.

''Today's budget bears all the hallmarks of the Bush legacy -- it leads to more deficits, more debt, more tax cuts, more cutbacks in critical services,'' said House Budget Committee Chairman John Spratt, D-S.C...[Open in new window]