Facing a record budget deficit, Bush administration officials say they have drafted an election-year budget that will rein in the growth of domestic spending without alienating politically influential constituencies.
They said the president’s proposed budget for the 2005 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1, would control the rising cost of housing vouchers for the poor, require some veterans to pay more for their health care, slow the growth in spending on biomedical research and merge or eliminate some job-training and employment programs.
The moves are intended to trim the programs without damaging essential services, the administration said.
The Congressional and White House budget offices have projected a deficit of more than $450 billion this year.
President Bush’s budget request is to be sent to Congress by Feb. 2. It includes several tax-cut proposals, including new incentives for individual saving and tax credits to help uninsured people buy health insurance. Democratic candidates for president have accused Bush of doing little to halt therapid increase in the number of uninsured.
Administration officials said Bush’s budget would call for an overall increase of about 3 percent in appropriations for so-called domestic discretionary spending, which excludes the Homeland Security Department, the Defense Department and insurance benefits such as Medicare and Medicaid.
Total federal revenues have declined for three consecutive years. But in those years, from 2000 to 2003, federal spending increased slightly more than 20 percent, to $2.16 trillion last year.
