Obama turns next to cutting deficit

By Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP

President Obama speaks to visitors at the Lincoln Memorial after reaching a deal with Congress to avert a government shutdown.

EnlargeCloseBy Manuel Balce Ceneta, AP

President Obama speaks to visitors at the Lincoln Memorial after reaching a deal with Congress to avert a government shutdown.

"Every corner of the federal government has to be looked at," White House senior adviser David Plouffe told CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, two days after Obama and congressional leaders struck a down-to-the-wire deal over spending cuts for the remainder of this budget year, which ends in September.

That agreement, which averted a partial government shutdown, would cut $38.5 billion. Many of those cuts involve money that was allocated but had not yet been spent. More details are expected to be released today as Congress prepares to vote on the agreement later this week.

SPENDING: Budget deal ups the political anteTIMELINE: A closer look at the budget dealGOP HOPEFULS: Budget fight far from over With that budget drama largely behind him, Obama is preparing for a new set of showdowns. In a series of talk-show appearances on Sunday, Plouffe gave a broad outline of Obama's proposal. He said the president favors increasing taxes for top earners and limiting benefits in Medicare and Medicaid.

Plouffe said the White House does not believe Social Security is contributing to the short-term deficit. He said deficit-reduction will not be done by "putting all the burden on seniors."

Republicans said Obama lacks credibility on the deficit.

Sen. Jeff Sessions, R-Ala., the senior Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, said Obama's new plan follows the release in February of a fiscal 2012 budget proposal that was "the most irresponsible spending plan any president has ever put forward."

That $3.7 trillion plan would cut $1.1 trillion from the deficit over 10 years. In December, Obama's bipartisan fiscal commission voted 11-7 on a plan that recommended $3.9 trillion in reductions over a decade. House Republicans are aiming for even more dramatic cuts. In a blueprint issued last week, Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan of Wisconsin called for $5 trillion in cuts over the next decade.

Sessions said it "will not be sufficient for the president to simply make a speech" Wednesday. Instead, he said Obama must submit a new budget to Congress.

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