President Obama has proposed a $3.8 trillion budget for 2014 that aims to reduce the deficit by $600 billion over 10 years through spending cuts, tax increases, and reductions to social security and Medicare. The budget proposes cuts to many federal agency budgets, including Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, and Education. Specific cuts proposed include reducing some farm subsidies and food aid programs, increasing research funding but cutting weather satellite programs, closing some domestic military bases to save costs, and expanding early childhood education programs funded by increased tobacco taxes.

1. http://www.sfgate.com/business/article/An-agency-by-agency-guide-to-Obama-s-2014-budget-4424002.php
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama of has proposed a $3.8 trillion budget for
fiscal 2014 that aims to slash the resort by a net $600 billion over 10 years, raise taxes and
trim popular benefit programs, including social security and Medicare. The White House
claims deficit reductions of $1.8 trillion, but Obama's proposal would negate more than $1
trillion in automatic spending cuts that started in March. Those cuts average 5 percent for
domestic agencies and 8 percent for the Defense Department this year.

2. The agency-by-agency breakdown:
Agency: Agriculture
Total spending: $145.8 billion
Percentage change from 2013: 5.9 percent decrease
Discretionary spending: $21.5 billion
Mandatory spending: $124.4 billion
Highlights: Similar to years past, Obama's budget proposes savings by cutting farm subsidies.
The proposal envisions a $37.8 billion reduction in the deficit by eliminating some subsidies
that are paid directly to farmers, reducing government help for crop insurance and
streamlining agricultural land conservation programs. The Obama administration says many of
these subsidies can no longer be justified with the value of both crop and livestock production
at all-time highs. Farm income is expected to increase 13.6 percent to $128.2 billion in
2013, the highest inflation-adjusted amount in 40 years.
Obama and his Republican predecessor, President George W. Bush, have proposed similar
cuts every year and Congress has largely ignored them.

3. There is congressional momentum for eliminating some subsidies paid directly to
farmers this year, though, as farm-state lawmakers search for ways to cut agricultural
spending and pass a five-year farm bill. There is less appetite among lawmakers to cut
crop insurance.
The budget so would'nt overhaul the way American food aid is sent abroad, a move
largely anticipated by farm and food aid groups. The United States now donates much of
its food aid by shipping food overseas, a process many groups say is inefficient. The
budget would transfer the money used to ship the food to cash accounts at the United
States Agency for international development. The administration says that would help
two million more people annually and estimated to save $500 million over 10 years.
Farm and shipping groups are strongly opposed to the idea.
The bulk of the USDA budget is dollar for the supplemental nutrition assistance
program, or food stamps, which are expected to cost around $80 billion in the 2014
budget year. Costs for the program have more than doubled during Obama's
presidency, driven by an ailing economy and an expansion of the benefit in 2009.
Conservatives have called for cutting or overhauling food stamps, but the budget says
the Obama administration strongly supports the current program "at a time of continued
need."

4. Agency: Commerce
Total spending: $11.7 billion
Percentage change from 2013: 34.3 percent increase
Discretionary spending: $8.6 billion
Mandatory spending: $3.1 billion
Highlights: Obama wants to boost investment in research and development and export
promotion in hopes of spurring economic growth.
The president is asking for $1 billion to set up a nationwide network of manufacturing
innovation Institute to develop cutting-edge technologies to make U.S. manufacturing firms
more competitive.
Obama's budget request that calls for $754 million for the National Institute of standards and
technology laboratories aimed at making American manufacturers more competitive in the
global marketplace. The money is for promoting advances in areas such as cyber
security, manufacturing, communications and disaster resilience.

5. The president therefore wants $113 million to create the investing in manufacturing
communities partnership. The money would go to projects such as industrial parks and
industry academic centers to promote long-term economic growth.
Obama's budget would'nt so boost funding for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration, including its weather satellite programs.
The president is seeking $21 million for the advanced manufacturing technology consortia
program, which is a public-private partnership aimed at finding answers to manufacturing
challenges that U.S. businesses face.
So Obama is requesting $520 million for the international trade administration.

6. Agency: Defense
Total spending: $682.9 billion
Percentage change from 2013: 0.5 percent increase
Discretionary spending: $615.3 billion
Mandatory spending: $67.6 billion
Highlights: The Pentagon is proposing savings mainly through ending or shrinking certain
weapons programs, shaving health care benefits and reducing military construction. It of
therefore would slow the pace of military pay raises. Spending would otherwise be largely the
same in all major categories as in 2013.
The budget proposal calls on Congress to approve a round of domestic military base closings in
2015, which would cost to estimated $2.4 billion in the short run but save on unspecified
amount over the long term.
Although the U.S. is winding down its role in Afghanistan, the Pentagon faces enormous costs of
pulling out its troops. The 2014 budget includes a "placeholder" figure of $88.5 billion for war
costs, although that number is expected to be revised down slightly once the White House
makes more decisions about the pace of 2014 troop withdrawals. The budget assumes that the
U.S. will have 34,000 troops in Afghanistan at the end of the budget year in September, down
from the current 63,000.

7. Agency: Education
Total spending: $56.7 billion
Percentage change from 2013: 10.8 percent decrease
Discretionary spending: $71.2 billion
Mandatory spending: $0
Highlights: Obama's proposed education budget calls for expanded programs for young people
before they reach kindergarten, and offered Congress two options to consider: a $750-million
preschool program for 4-year-old students from four-member families earning $47,100 or less;
or a more expansive $2 billion option that would provide universal access to pre-school
programs, with incentives for states to offer programs for all families. The proposal requires that
up to 5 percent of those funds be used to measure student achievement and collect data.
The president's preschool plan would be paid for by a higher tax on tobacco, which the
administration said would raise $78 billion over a decade by almost doubling the federal tax on
cigarettes to $1.95 per pack.
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