Obama sends $3.7 trillion budget to Congress

By Robert Schroeder, MarketWatch

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — Opening a protracted battle with congressional Republicans about the size and scope of the federal government, President Barack Obama on Monday sent Congress a $3.7 trillion budget for fiscal 2012 that pours billions of dollars into infrastructure, renewable energy and other investments while attacking the record U.S. budget deficit.

Landing halfway through the history-making president’s first term and facing a harsh reception from Republicans, Obama’s budget blueprint puts dollar figures on his State of the Union pledge to “out-innovate, out-educate and out-build the rest of the world” — while also putting in place a five-year freeze on non-military discretionary spending and reducing the deficit by more than $1 trillion over a decade. Read budget documents on White House web site.

“In an increasingly competitive world in which jobs and businesses are mobile, we also have a responsibility to invest in those things that are absolutely critical to preparing our people and our nation for the economic competition of our time,” Obama said in his budget message. Read Obama's budget message.