Reid aims to cut deficit, keep alive Obama's spending plan

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid D-NV said on Tuesday that his aims with the 2012 fiscal year budget are to bring down the deficit while keeping our economy moving in the right direction.

He said Republicans and Democrats should find that middle ground in a statement released on Tuesday.

We have spending challenges before us, Reid said. they will be solved only when reasonable partners are willing to come to the table with responsible proposals that find a critically important balance - one that brings down our deficit while keeping our economy moving in the right direction.

President Barack Obama's 2012 budget includes a 10 year projection showing that the U.S. debt will keep growing beyond its level just over $14 trillion. However it will do so at a slower pace than the early part of the decade as the deficit decreases.

The federal deficit in 2011 is expected to be $1.65 trillion. That figure will drop to $607 million deficit by 2015. The deficit will be 10.9 percent of the nation's Gross Domestic Product in 2011, and will drop to 3.2 percent by 2015.

One area where Reid is looking for changes to boost government revenue is removing tax breaks for corporations and the rich, which Republicans are trying to protect, he said.

They're still fighting for billions in special breaks for the oil and gas companies, the insurance industry and billionaires, he said.

Reid defended Obama's proposal to spend on education, infrastructure, and innovation in order to make U.S. workers and businesses more competitive globally.

Obama's budget doesn't buy into the partisan talking point that there's no difference between spending and investing, Reid said.

When we invest in education, we create a smarter and stronger workforce. When we invest in innovation, we create jobs before the rest of the world beats us to it. When we invest in our infrastructure - from the interstates to the Internet - we lay the foundation for prosperity, Reid said.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell on Monday that Obama's budget is a plan that says fulfilling the President's vision of a future of trains and windmills is more important than a balanced checkbook.

He said Obama's plan was an imaginary vision of the future that may or may not come about by adding trillions to the U.S. debt held by the public.

That debt figure was just over $14 trillion dollars, according to the U.S. Treasury.