Today's Budget Proposal

Charts, Projections and Plenty of Politics

"Today's budget proposal makes it clear what President Bush's priorities are: tax cuts for the rich and tough luck for everyone else," said Gen. Wesley K. Clark.

Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts said: "The new Bush budget is more of the same: record deficits, tax cuts for the wealthy and special interests and cuts in areas that matter to families — such as health care and education."

Democrats attacked the president's proposal to hold the line on spending in a number of areas. Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Democrat of Massachusetts, called the document "the most antifamily, antiworker, anti-health-care, anti-education budget in modern times." Senator Dianne Feinstein, Democrat of California, said the budget "is built on a house of cards."

Senator John McCain, the Arizona Republican who has railed against pork-barrel spending, simply laughed when asked his view of the budget. "I think it makes for very entertaining reading," he said.

"This is not a serious plan for getting the country out of trouble," senior Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee, Senator Kent Conrad of North Dakota said. "This president is the most fiscally irresponsible in the history of the United States."