February 15th, 2011

President Obama’s $3.7 trillion budget proposal for fiscal year 2012 relies on dozens of ideas that have been previously rejected by a Democrat-led Congress and will face an even tougher road ahead under a new, larger Republican presence in the Capitol, lawmakers said Feb. 14.

In his Feb. 14 budget submission, Obama renewed his pledge to extend the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts for only middle-income families at a cost of $1.25 trillion over the 2012-2021 period, as well as extending the estate tax law that was in place for 2009, where the exemption level was $3.5 million and the tax rate was 45 percent at a cost of $270 billion over 10 years.

It also includes a $59.8 billion provision to renew and reform the lapsed Build America Bonds program, a $30 billion “Financial Crisis Responsibility Fee,” and a repeal of about $20 billion in tax incentives given to the oil and gas industry. All of those ideas were unable to win the support of all of the Senate’s Democrats in the 111th Congress and have already been rejected by Republicans controlling the House for the 112th Congress.

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