Obama To Propose 5-Year Discretionary Spending Freeze

Enlarge this image toggle caption J. Scott Applewhite/ASSOCIATED PRESS J. Scott Applewhite/ASSOCIATED PRESS

In his continuing effort to try to gain the high ground of fiscal responsibility, President Obama will use his State of the Union address to expand his earlier proposal to freeze discretionary spending for several years.

Obama will say the discretionary part of the budget should be frozen for five years instead of the three years he proposed last year.

Such a freeze wouldn't affect entitlements or defense and homeland security spending. Those are the parts of the budget that comprise most of the upward pressure on the federal budget and which really must be controlled if growing deficits and federal debt are to be reined in.

But Obama clearly feels pressure to compete with Republican spending cut proposals as he and the opposition vie for those millions of voters concerned about the nation's unsustainable finances.

A Bloomberg News excerpt: