WASHINGTON — President Bush on Monday sent Congress a proposed $2.77-trillion budget for 2007 that would boost Defense and Homeland Security while trimming the growth of Medicare and other social service programs.
Joshua B. Bolten, Bush's budget director, said the budget's two paramount goals were to "fight and win the global war on terror" and "maintain our economic strength by extending the tax relief that has fueled our economic expansion."
Bolten estimated that Bush's policies would leave a deficit of $354 billion next year -- the fourth-largest ever in dollar terms -- which would settle down to around $200 billion for the subsequent four years. But other analysts foresaw deficits breaking through $400 billion next year and growing from there, propelled by the likely costs of the Iraq war and the scaling back of the alternative minimum tax, which was originally aimed at the wealthiest taxpayers but is affecting more of the middle class.
Some conservatives hailed the budget as an exercise in fiscal discipline with a commitment to tax cuts. "I'm giving it a standing ovation," said Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas).
But other conservatives said Bush's budget-cutting did not go far enough. "The restraint on spending in this budget simply isn't sufficient," said Rep. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.).
Liberals decried the proposed budget's continued pressure on domestic programs for the poor. "Although it contains the same themes as earlier administration budgets, it is somewhat harsher," said Robert Greenstein, head of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Departments that would gain the most under Bush's budget include the Pentagon, which would see spending rise 7%, and the Department of Homeland Security, where a 6% increase would go largely to immigration enforcement, air travel security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
Overall, federal spending would rise by $61 billion to $2.77 trillion, which would make it the smallest annual spending increase of the Bush administration. Altogether, spending has grown by 38% during the five years Bush has been in office -- and by 20% even after adjusting for inflation.
The spending figure for next year omits all but $50 billion of the cost of prosecuting the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The administration has asked for $120 billion for the troops this year.
