WASHINGTON'President Bush submitted a $2.1 trillion budget Monday that sets aside debt reduction and squeezes domestic programs to finance homeland security, the war on terrorism and another round of big tax cuts.
Reflecting Reaganesque fiscal priorities, Bush's budget for fiscal year 2003 asks Congress for new tax cuts worth $590 billion and defense spending increases totaling $550 billion over the next 10 years.
He would accomplish those objectives by forgoing balanced budgets for at least three years and abandoning last year's pledge to reserve Social Security surpluses to pay off the national debt.
For that, the president offered no apologies. Sept. 11 was the Pearl Harbor of his generation, Bush said, and the challenges it presents call for a different kind of fiscal strategy from a knee-jerk aversion to red ink.
\The budget for 2003 is much more than a tabulation of numbers,"" Bush said in his budget message to Congress. ""It is a plan to fight a war we did not seek, but a war we are determined to win.""
The president must battle lawmakers, lobbyists and constituents whose budget priorities differ from his. The first shots were fired almost immediately, with critics accusing Bush of endangering Social Security by pressing for new spending and tax cuts.
""This budget allocates funds to buy bombs, guns and aircraft to help fight the war on terrorism, but it puts the financial security of millions of Americans in jeopardy,"" said U.S. Rep. Charles B. Rangel, D-N.Y, the ranking minority member of the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee. ""This bomb now, pay later approach is fiscally irresponsible.""
Bush's second budget reflects a remarkable reordering of fiscal priorities in response to the terrorist attacks and the deepening recession. A year ago, the White House said the federal government would accumulate a $5.6 trillion surplus over 10 years. Bush's new budget slashes the 10-year surplus estimate to $1 trillion. Taking Social Security surpluses off the table would produce a $1.5-trillion shortfall.
