US President Barack Obama has unveiled a $3.6 trillion budget that outlines aggressive plans to boost the US economy.
Read the full text of the budget.
The fiscal 2010 spending plan encompasses Mr Obama's efforts to pull the country out of its worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
‘The time has come to usher in a new era - a new era of responsibility in which we act not only to save and create new jobs, but also to lay a new foundation of growth upon which we can renew the promise of America,’ Mr Obama said in his budget message.
‘This budget is a first step in that journey’.
The spending would mark a decline from the $3.724 trillion projected for the current fiscal year, which ends 30 September.
In the current fiscal year, which began under former President George W Bush, the new budget projects a deficit of $1.750 trillion.
That amounts to 12.3% of GDP, the biggest since World War II.
In fiscal year 2010, which starts 1 October, the budget forecasts a deficit declining to $1.171 trillion.
The projected spending would include some $200bn to fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan over the next 18 months, and a huge $634bn fund to pay for health care reforms, a key plank of Obama's election campaign.
Mr Obama has also asked for $250bn to be set aside if needed to bailout the US financial industry, on top of the $700bn already committed to the effort.
The budget is due to set the stage for a fierce battle in Congress, with many Republicans angered by plans to raise taxes on the country's wealthiest, seen as one of the key ways of increasing revenue.
Major savings are expected by winding down US military efforts in Iraq, which currently soaks up some $170bn a year.
