Budget director calls steep budget cuts necessary

[February 14, 2011]  WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Obama administration's budget director says the $3.73 trillion budget being offered to Congress is a balanced package of spending cuts and "shared sacrifice" necessary to bringing the nation's finances under control.

Jacob Lew tells ABC's "Good Morning America" the spending blueprint that President Barack Obama is proposing will "stand the test that we live within our means and we invest in the future."

Answering criticism from Republicans that the cuts don't go far enough, Lew said the budget for fiscal 2012 has $400 billion in savings and would bring discretionary domestic spending down to levels last seen during the Eisenhower administration in the early 1950s.

Lew acknowledges that any thoughts of a budget surplus any time soon are not realistic, saying: "It's enough to break your heart."

[Associated Press]

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