http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2015/feb/2/obama-wont-accept-budget-doesnt-raise-spending/print/Obama says he won’t accept budget that doesn’t raise spending
By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Monday, February 2, 2015
President Obama said Monday he will reject any budget from Congress that doesn't boost spending on both defense and his own domestic priorities, saying the spending "sequesters" need to go.
"America can't afford being short-sighted and I'm not going to allow it," the president said while speaking at the Homeland Security Department as he released his $4 trillion budget for fiscal 2016.
His budget calls for boosting discretionary spending by more than 6 percent, and raising taxes to pay for it.
Those proposals have been panned on Capitol Hill, where Republicans control both the House and Senate and have rejected the president's vision of using the tax system to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor.
But Mr. Obama's line-drawing Monday suggests a rough road ahead this year for all sides as they try to write bills to fund the government in fiscal 2016, which begins Oct. 1.
In the meantime, they're still fighting over homeland security spending for fiscal 2015, which is why the president chose to speak at one of the department's offices.
If Congress and Mr. Obama can't agree on funding by Feb. 27, the department would enter a sort of shutdown. Because almost all of its employees are deemed essential, they would continue to work. But they wouldn't get paid until new funding is approved.
The fight between Mr. Obama and Congress centers on his deportation amnesty. Republicans say homeland security shouldn't get money unless the president rescinds his amnesty, while the White House says the GOP should fund both the amnesty and the rest of the department's operations.
