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President Obama submitted his $4 trillion budget package to Congress with his priorities being to help the middle class by providing tax breaks, additional spending on various government programs, making additional reductions and tax hikes on the wealthy, all the while not raising the deficit of the country.

The president upon releasing his budget blueprint stated, “It helps working families’ paychecks go farther by treating things like paid sick leave and childcare as the economic priorities that they are.  It gives Americans of every age the chance to upgrade their skills so they can earn higher wages, and it includes my plan to make two years of community college free for responsible students.  It lets us keep building the world’s most attractive economy for high-wage jobs, with new investments in research, and infrastructure and manufacturing, as well as expanded access to faster Internet and new markets for goods made in America.”

The president continued, “The budget I’ve sent to Congress today is fully paid for, through a combination of smart spending cuts and tax reforms.  Let me give you an example.  Right now, our tax code is full of loopholes for special interests — like the trust fund loophole that allows the wealthiest Americans to avoid paying taxes on their unearned income.  I think we should fix that and use the savings to cut taxes for middle-class families.  That would be good for our economy.”

Politico reported that Obama proposes raising a number of taxes on wealthy taxpayers or businesses — some of them already dismissed as nonstarters by the Republican Congress. They include fees on big banks and taxes on companies that do business overseas — plus spending cuts on health programs and other savings — to cover the costs of all the new initiatives, senior Obama administration officials said on a conference call with reporters Sunday.

Politico continued  to pay for it, Obama proposes raising a number of taxes on wealthy taxpayers or businesses — some of them already dismissed as nonstarters by the Republican Congress. They include fees on big banks and taxes on companies that do business overseas — plus spending cuts on health programs and other savings — to cover the costs of all the new initiatives, senior Obama administration officials said on a conference call with reporters Sunday.

Obama isn’t suggesting enough cuts or tax increases to eliminate deficits completely — not to mention the long-term debt. But he’ll make the case to Americans that bringing deficits down to “sustainable” levels — below 3 percent of the nation’s economic output — is good enough to keep the debt manageable, a senior administration official said.

“We can afford to make these investments while remaining fiscally responsible,” Obama said Monday. “We’ve just got to be smarter about paying for our priorities.”

The Washington Post add into its reporting with the economy finally on the mend and federal deficits falling, Obama’s request proclaims an end to “mindless austerity” and seeks fresh investments in education and tax breaks for a struggling middle class. It would lift caps on spending for the Pentagon as well as domestic agencies. And it seeks a big infusion of cash for highways and other infrastructure.

The Post continued these echo the priorities of many Republican lawmakers, who are torn between their pledge to shrink government spending and borrowing and their desire to demonstrate an ability to govern, in part by increasing funding for the nation’s defense. Republican leaders have also pledged to avoid another government shutdown — which means finding common ground with Obama on agency appropriations before the new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

The question we need to ask ourselves is we have heard this before and still the government has yet to begin addressing how the nation will begin to reduce our staggering $18 trillion national debt.

The president is correct the deficit has come down considerably but that was the result of sequestration, which forced the government to make reductions to domestic and defense related spending, but now the president wants to end sequestration without any viable deficit reduction beyond taxing the wealth again.

The question which needs to be asked how much is one’s fair share and what areas do the Republican controlled Congress plan on reducing to begin reducing the staggering U.S. debt?

Both parties claim to reform the much maligned U.S. tax code, but unfortunately nothing in the president’s budget proposal reforms the tax code it only makes matters worse, and Republicans have not offered their own plan beyond what was proposed last year which was rejected by the Republican leadership.

Both Republicans and Democrats need to find common ground and not play election year politics in preparation for the 2016 presidential election, as both parties got us into this mess and now both parties will have to get us out of this mess.