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Obama plans to halve budget deficit

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama wants to cut the federal deficit in half by the end of his first term, mostly by scaling back Iraq war spending, raising taxes on the wealthiest and streamlining government, an administration official said on Saturday as the president worked to finalise his first budget request.

Mr. Obama’s proposal for the 2010 fiscal year that begins October 1 projects that the estimated $1.3 trillion deficit he has inherited from former President George W. Bush will be halved to $533 billion by 2013. “We can’t generate sustained growth without getting our deficits under control,” said Mr. Obama in his weekly radio and internet address. — AP

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