WASHINGTON -- President Obama sends his first budget proposal to the U.S. Congress today. It includes what the White House is calling a significant down payment toward universal health care coverage.
It sets up what looks to be the first big post-economy fight over health care.
The headline of the first Obama budget involves health care and reining in a runaway expense
On Tuesday, President Obama said "the cost of health care eats up more and more of our savings each year, yet we keep delaying reform."
The president wants $634 billion over ten years toward universal care, and ultimately controlling costs.
A new poll shows 62% of Americans support health care reform despite the recession.
About half the cost would come from new tax hits to the wealthy, fewer tax deductions, and couples making more than a quarter million a year would see their rate rise from 35% to 39.6%.
Republicans geared up against it.
Texas Congressman Sam Johnson said "we don't want to increase taxes when folks are already feeling pinched by this tough economy."
Even some Democrats question why health care reform should require more money.
The president's budget would make permanent a middle class tax cut.
To pay for it, he'd count on a cash infusion from setting carbon emissions caps and auctioning off permits to businesses to exceed them, a way also to combat climate change.
On the wars, the president wants $75 billion toward Iraq and Afghanistan through September.
Budget analysts say scaling back spending in Iraq alone would help the president cut the deficit in half in four years.
The president will spell out his plans for Iraq tomorrow. The White House sees that fight as over. The fight over health care, as the Obama budget makes clear, is just beginning.
