Budget

President Obama's budget proposal for the coming fiscal year would boost federal arts spending 10%  above where it stands at the moment, lifting it to $1.58 billion for the 2013-14 budget year that begins Oct. 1 and more than compensating for cuts from the "budget sequestration" bill that went into effect last month. Those reductions sliced 5% across the board from three federal cultural grant-making agencies as well as the Smithsonian Institution, the National Gallery of Art and the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, lowering their combined spending from $1.51 billion to about $1.44 billion for fiscal 2012-13.

Republicans on the Hill are scoffing at President Obama's budget, saying it's riddled with gimmicks and “fiscal fairy dust” that hide tax increases and inflate the amount of deficit reduction. The White House says the plan announced Monday achieves more than $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade, through a combination of tax increases, Medicare cuts and a winding down of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Republicans quickly dismissed the notion that money not spent on the wars should be counted as savings.

Lawmakers on Friday approved $92.1-billion budget plan, which now awaits Gov. Jerry Brown's signature or veto. It still may be modified before a July 1 deadline. Social services Spending on welfare, child care and home care for the elderly and disabled would be reduced but not by as much as Brown wanted. CalWORKs, the state welfare program, is facing the biggest hit at $428 million. Brown wanted to reduce monthly checks for people who have been on welfare for more than two years and not met work requirements.

Big changes to the budget California lawmakers approved midyear budget changes to address roughly $4 billion of the state's estimated $20-billion deficit. Among them: $1.1 billion Divert gas taxes from mass transit to reduce deficit. $811 million Cut prison healthcare budget. $580 million Cut 5% of state payroll and related costs. $60 million Cut 3% of funds for centers for the developmentally disabled. $182 million Commute sentences of illegal immigrant inmates and turn them over to the federal government.

WASHINGTON - Think of it as what could have been: Alternative visions of the federal budget from progressives, conservatives and other rank-and-file lawmakers that have little chance of passing but offer another view of priorities. As House Republicans prepared Wednesday to pass their 10-year austerity budget plan from Rep. Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), the chamber first dispatched with alternative proposals. The Congressional Progressive Caucus offered a plan that would increase income taxes on millionaires to 45% - and billionaires to 49% - while paying for infrastructure programs and more money to the states to hire schoolteachers, cops and firefighters.

California lawmakers have little to celebrate this Fourth of July as talks continue on how to close the state's deficit. Little progress was reported Saturday, and the Legislature is not expected to meet until Monday. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and lawmakers are trying to bridge a $26-billion shortfall. Earlier this week, the state began issuing IOUs, and state employees received additional furlough notices.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa came out swinging against the city's labor unions last week, urging lawmakers - and the next mayor - to abandon or pare the 5.5% raise that comes due for many city employees on Jan. 1. Villaraigosa set a defiant tone as he unveiled his latest budget, his last before he leaves office after eight years, saying city workers need to contribute more toward their healthcare costs. Yet amid the tough talk, the mayor's spending plan shows he already has the money to cover those costs if the unions are unwilling to deal.

Eric Garcetti dismissed a new proposal by Los Angeles mayoral rival Wendy Greuel to cut office budgets for City Council members and the mayor by 25%, saying such a reduction was inconsequential given the size of Los Angeles' deficit problem. “That's a drop in the bucket,” Garcetti told reporters after a campaign event at a community center in Echo Park. “What we have to be doing is not only leading by example, as we've done, but we need to look at pension reform, healthcare reform, those things that really give us bang for the buck, and most importantly, growing the economy.

Randall Emmett has produced 70 movies - more than super-producer Jerry Bruckheimer, more than Paramount Pictures in the last five years, more than he can even remember. Many were low-budget schlock. Some went straight to the DVD shelves. But Emmett has never stopped hustling, calling and yelling at whomever he needs to in order to get that next project made. "He's the Tasmanian devil," says Emmett's longtime producing partner, George Furla. Now Emmett is moving into the big leagues.

New budget proposals this week from influential members of the House Republican and Senate Democratic leadership are the stuff of political caricatures. House Budget Committee Chairman Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.), last year's Republican nominee for vice president, reprised the spending-cut talking points from his failed campaign with little change and no apparent irony. Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.), meanwhile, offered the outlines of a budget that increases taxes and spending, while doing little more than buying time on the entitlement programs at the heart of Washington's long-term problems.