President Bush on Monday sent Congress a record $3.11 trillion budget request that sees the federal deficit widening over the next two years but projects a balanced budget by 2012.
The budget is the final one submitted by Bush, but it’s the first ever sent in its entirety electronically. Gone are the massive budget books that end up sitting on shelves gathering dust.
“This is a good, solid budget. It’s not only an innovative budget, in that it’s coming to Congress over the Internet, it’s a budget that’s balanced — gets to balance in 2012 and saves taxpayers money,” Bush said at the White House after a meeting with his Cabinet.
The budget request seeks a 6% rise in total government spending for fiscal 2009, which begins Oct. 1. The deficit would total $407 billion.
The White House expects to end the current fiscal year with a deficit of $410 billion — a sharp increase from the deficit of $162 billion last year.
