House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) accused the White House of using greatly exaggerated deficit reduction figures in its 2013 budget request. The Acting Budget Director Jeffrey Zients, defended the proposal by pointing out that the budget plan includes both short-term spending on infrastructure, education and other programs, while also taking steps to reign in the long-term budget deficit.
On Monday, President Obama released his $3.8 trillion FY2013 Budget proposal.The spending plan projects a deficit of $1.3 trillion dollars this year, and aims to lower it to about $901 billion for 2013 with proposed tax increases on upper-income Americans.