WASHINGTON (AP) — The White House says President Barack Obama’s upcoming budget will call on lawmakers to revisit the last year’s failed attempt by a congressional supercommittee to cut the deficit by at least $1.2 trillion.
The proposal runs counter to the common wisdom in Washington that any major deficit reduction effort is unlikely in a presidential election year. Instead, lawmakers are focusing on a one-year extension of a payroll tax cut and supplemental jobless benefits sought by the president as part of last fall’s jobs agenda.
The White House plan, likely to reprise new taxes and fee proposals that are nonstarters with Capitol Hill Republicans, would replace $1.2 trillion in automatic spending cuts required over the next nine years because of the supercommittee’s failure.
