Washington - President Barack Obama's fellow Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday proposed slimming down his fiscal 2010 budget to $3.45 trillion from $3.55 trillion amid bipartisan concerns about it exploding the deficit.

    The House Budget Committee Democrats' proposal includes instructions aimed at overhauling healthcare and making changes to education which would give them privileged status, making it easier for them to pass Congress and become law.

    The Democrats' budget plan projects a deficit of $1.2 trillion for fiscal 2010 and $3.95 trillion from 2010 to 2014.

    Obama's budget, as analyzed by the Congressional Budget Office, would incur a deficit of almost $1.4 trillion for fiscal 2010 and $4.4 trillion from 2010-2014.

    Republicans have blasted Obama's budget for too much spending and large tax increases on the wealthy, and they pointed to the Congressional Budget Office's analysis that showed the president's budget would hike the cumulative deficit by $9.3 trillion through 2019.

    House Budget Committee Democrats said their proposal would cut the deficit to $586 billion in 2013, in line with an attempt to reach Obama's pledge to halve the budget deficit by then. However it would grow again in 2014 to almost $600 billion.

    Their proposal also fully funds Obama's $556 billion for defense spending and would budget $130 billion for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

    It also reduces tax cut proposals from Obama's budget to $613 billion from almost $804 billion from 2009 to 2014. It did not include any placeholder for further money for the financial bailout, whereas Obama requested $125 billion for 2010.

    While Obama does not sign the budget resolution, the legislation sets spending and tax parameters for the upcoming fiscal year. The Senate will consider its own budget plan later on Wednesday and Thursday and any differences with the House must be reconciled.

    ---------

    (Reporting by Jeremy Pelofsky; editing by Eric Walsh)

All republished content that appears on Truthout has been obtained by permission or license.