• One of the annual Washington rituals calls for the President to send Congress an administration budget proposal for the next fiscal year. President Bush followed through with a FY2007 plan asking for $27.7 trillion. The proposed budget would increase defense spending by 7 percent and cut some $15 billion from 141 programs in nine of 15 Cabinet agencies. New tax credits for health care would be created and the tax cuts Bush pushed through Congress in his first term would be made permanent. Total spending for FY2007 would increase a modest 2.3 percent. The federal deficit is expected to reach $423 billion.
The budget for the Department of Transportation would be $65.6 billion, and most of the money would come out of the highway and aviation trust funds. The Airport Improvement Program (AIP) would be funded at $2.75 billion, a reduction of the $3.5 billion Congress approved for last year and the $3.7 billion authorized for FY2006.
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