Obama unveils first budget

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 /* Style Definitions */ table.MsoNormalTable {mso-style-name:"Table Normal"; mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0; mso-tstyle-colband-size:0; mso-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-priority:99; mso-style-qformat:yes; mso-style-parent:""; mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt; mso-para-margin:0in; mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:11.0pt; font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"; mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri; mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-theme-font:minor-fareast; mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri; mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;} President Barack Obama is due to present his first budget to Congress today, a document that will be the best evidence yet of his assertion that the economic crisis is an opportunity for sweeping political reform.   The president is expected to ask Congress to finance education, energy and environmental reforms, issues which are sure to stir up strong opposition from Republicans.   He is also expected to fulfill a campaign pledge to raise taxes on Americans earning more than $250,000 dollars a year from 35 percent to just under 40 percent, raising around $2 trillion to help bridge the widening budget deficit.   Major savings are expected by winding down US military efforts in Iraq, which currently soaks up some $170 billion a year, and the president also reportedly plans to raise money through a mandatory cap on greenhouse emissions.   So often, we've come to view these documents as simply numbers on a page or a laundry list of programs," Obama told lawmakers in his debut address to Congress on Tuesday. "I see this document differently, I see it as a vision for AmericaÔÇöas a blueprint for our future.   "My budget does not attempt to solve every problem or address every issue,ÔÇØ he continued. ÔÇ£It reflects the stark reality of what we've inheritedÔÇöa trillion-dollar deficit, a financial crisis, and a costly recession."   White House press secretary Robert Gibbs hinted on Wednesday that the budget would also include a request for more money to save the US finance industry. Congress has already approved a $700 billion, two-stage rescue plan, which has so far done little to repair the crumbling sector.   The President has vowed to make the budget as transparent as possible, which could make the full extent of the US credit crisis clear.     *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á┬á *