On February 9th, President Obama sent off the last budget proposal of his presidency to be approved by congress. The White House said the 2017 budget is primarily focused on future savings; however, the president also listed some projects that he wants to fund next year.

In his budget, the president proposed 10-year savings via 117 spending cuts. The figures include several discretionary cuts and consolidations which would save around $14 billion next year. Mandatory cuts expect to incur $8.2 billion savings in 2017 and a further $670 billion over the next decade.

These cuts aim to help the deficit, which will increase this year from $438 billion up to $616 billion. Check out some of the biggest cuts in this chart:

The top 10 cuts the president is proposing include:

Low Priority Studies and Construction - $808 million

FEMA Preparedness Grants - $460 million

Grants-in-Aid for Airports - $450 million

Operation and Maintenance Work - $432 million

LIHEAP -$390 million

ICE Immigration Detention Beds - $319 million

Foreign Military Financing - $312 million

Clean Water and Drinking Water - $257 million

State Criminal Alien Assistance - $210 million

Littoral Combat Ships - $206 million

The president also focused on the small government programs that are costly to run. The budget offers a suggestion to trim $10 million here and $100 million there to try to make ends meet.

Here are some of the program Obama proposed to eliminate, listed by department:

Health and Human Services

Area Health Education Centers

Education Research Centers and Agricultural Research

Grants for Abstinence-Only Education

Preventative Health and Health Services Block Grant

Rural Community Facilities

EPA

Beaches Grants Program

National Priorities Research

State Indoor Radon Grant Program

Targeted Air Shed Grants

Water Quality Research and Support Grants

Agriculture

Broadband Loans

Delta Regional Authority Grants

Economic Impact Grants

Health Care Services Grant Program

High Energy Cost Grants

Rural Energy Savings Program

Rural Multifamily Housing Preservation Grants

Water and Wastewater and Community Facilities Loan Guarantees

State Criminal Alien Assistance Program

Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations

The White House also listed number of Department of Agriculture grants to be cut. These grants include funding for supplemental and alternative crops, potato breeding research and aquaculture research.

Obama’s elimination of federal funding for abstinence-only education programs is not expected to play well in a Republican controlled congress.The proposed cuts to water quality programs might also sting in light of the situation in Flint, Michigan.

The president is also proposing a $460 million cut in FEMA preparedness grants. It sounds controversial, but the program has been cut previously. It received a boost in 2010 but was cut by $74.5 million only two years later. Regardless of funding history, the American Association of Port Authorities called the new budget cuts “grossly imbalanced.”

The State Criminal Alien Assistance Program is another hot button issue. This is the program that reimburses states for the law enforcement costs associated with detaining immigrants. Cutting this program saves the federal government $210 million. It is also aligned with the president’s ongoing battle with the states to stop deportations of illegal immigrants.

Alongside these cuts, the budget also includes a $319 million cut in ICE immigration detention beds. Basically, the president is proposing to make it more expensive for states to detain and deport illegal immigrants.

A full list of savings, cuts and consolidations is available from the White House website.

What do you think about President Obama’s proposed cuts? Do they seem well-thought out or ill-advised? How likely do you think these are cuts to make it to the budget deadline on October 1st?

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Source: Government Spending Cuts