Obama proposes $US4.1 budget spend

Barack Obama has proposed a $US4.1 trillion spending plan for 2017 in what will be his last White House budget.

US President Barack Obama proposed a $US4.1 trillion spending plan for 2017 in a final White House budget that laid out his priorities for fighting Islamic State, raising taxes on wealthy Americans and helping the poor.

The budget for the fiscal year beginning on October 1 is largely a political document and unlikely to be passed by the Republican-controlled Congress.

But it gives the Democratic president, who leaves office in January, a chance to make a last pitch for funding on issues such as education, criminal justice reform and job creation while taking credit for US economic strides during his tenure.

The spending proposal stayed within the confines of an agreement reached between the White House and Congress last year that lifted mandatory "sequestration" cuts on both defence and domestic spending.

It proposes lifting the limits entirely from 2018.

"My budget makes critical investments while adhering to the bipartisan budget agreement I signed into law last fall," Obama wrote in the budget document.

"It also drives down deficits and maintains our fiscal progress through smart savings from health care, immigration, and tax reforms."

The proposed budget envisions a deficit of $503 billion in fiscal 2017 after a $616 billion budget gap in the current fiscal year ending on September 30.

It seeks to cut deficits by $2.9 trillion over 10 years largely through shrunken tax breaks for wealthy earners, new savings in Medicare healthcare, and assumptions that adoption of its policies would boost economic growth.

Obama is due to meet with his national security team to discuss cyber security on Tuesday morning in Washington and is likely to address reporters at the close of the meeting.

The budget seeks $19 billion for cyber security across the US government.


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Source: AAP



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