Bush submits €2.3 trillion budget

US president George Bush sent a €2.3 trillion spending plan to Congress today, proposing a big increase in military spending, including billions more to fight the war in Iraq, while squeezing the rest of the US government to meet his goal of eliminating the deficit in five years.

Bush’s plan would make tax cuts passed during his first term of office permanent, at a cost of €1.2 trillion over 10 years. He is seeking €60.6bn in savings in the government’s big health care programmes – Medicare for the elderly and Medicaid for the poor – over the next five years.