U.S. President George W. Bush and his administration on Monday presented the $3.1 trillion budget proposal for the 2009 fiscal year to the U.S. Congress. The budget, the first to be available on line on the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) website, is Bush's last and will also carry over into the upcoming presidency. The budget seeks to cut about 151 spending programs that are deemed as unnecessary, but has strengthened its focus on financing the ongoing global “war on terror.” The proposal, which hopes to balance the budget by 2012, also aims at cutting $196 billion in spending over five years from the government funded Medicare and Medicaid health care programs, but allocates around $70 billion for war funding. --MORE
