Obama's $3.6 Trillion budget
- 00:02:00
- ITN
Obama's $3.6 Trillion budget
President Barack Obama has promised "honest" accounting in a $3.6 trillion (£2.5tn) budget aimed at transforming healthcare in the US. Mr Obama said $634 billion (£441bn) would be pumped into the health system over the next ten years. And he confirmed his government's balance sheet would from now on include the "true" cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. In a swipe at the Bush administration, Mr Obama said not reflecting the cost of wars in the budget was "dishonest." "We need to be honest with ourselves about what costs are being racked up, because that's how we'll come to grips with the hard choices that lie ahead," he said. "For too long our budget has not told the whole truth about how precious tax dollars are spent. Large sums have been left off the books, including the true cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan." Healthcare played prominently in the budget announcement. The ten-year plan will see hundreds of billions of dollars invested in a bid to expand the coverage of healthcare. Mr Obama said it represented an "historic commitment" to comprehensive healthcare reform, adding that every American should have "quality, affordable healthcare". To help pay for the outlay, the President said he would slash areas of federal spending in the long term. Although acknowledging that in the short term his measure would add to the national debt, Mr Obama said the administration had already earmarked areas in which spending could eventually be cut be $2 trillion (£1.4tn). John Irons, research and policy director at the Economic Policy Institute, welcomed the move towards greater honesty in the budget. He said: "By including a ten-year outlook and the full costs of anticipated spending, such as in military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, the budget outlook released this morning by the Obama administration features a measure of transparency that was lacking in those of the previous administration." The budget deficit for the current financial year amounts to $1.3 trillion (£900bn) or 9.2 per cent of GDP. Mr Obama's stimulus package passed earlier this month will add to this. The White House has stated that it intends to halve the deficit by the end of Mr Obama's first term and hopes to achieve this through closing tax loopholes, cracking down on inefficiency and winding down the war in Iraq. Mr Irons said: "Despite the poor economic conditions, the president's blueprint maps a path toward a sustainable deficit while setting aside money to meet core economic challenges."
ITN | February 27, 2009
