Obama budget offers contrasts, long-shot deals with GOP

Washington: President Barack Obama’s budget spells out a policy agenda that will distinguish him from Republicans who now control Congress even as it offers some opening bids for long-shot compromises.

Republicans have already dismissed much of Obama’s initiatives, spelt out in his State of the Union address. They’ve labelled as non-starters his plans for more taxes on the rich to pay for free community college and to expand child care.

But Obama is releasing his $4 trillion (Dh14.7 trillion) budget Monday, and it comes after a year of relative peace in Washington’s budget battles and as the federal deficit is dropping and his poll numbers inch higher. Though Republicans will march ahead on their own, they ultimately must come to terms with the president, who wields the power of the veto.