<<Print>>

US President Barack Obama is due to unveil his 2011 budget proposals which aim to tackle the record US deficit as well as creating new jobs. Mr Obama's budget is expected to cost $3.8tn (�2.4tn) and it seeks to save $250bn by capping a range of domestic programmes for three years. The US deficit has soared to $1.4tn and the unemployment now stands at 10%. Mr Obama's proposals for the fiscal year that will begin on 1 October must be approved by Congress. There is a real tension in what the White House is trying to do with next year's budget, the BBC's Richard Lister in Washington reports. On the one hand, the Obama administration wants to spend more money on things like green technology to create jobs, while on the other it is trying to scale back spending to shrink the deficit, our correspondent says. In all, about 120 government programmes are expected to be cut back. It is widely thought that some big-ticket items like Nasa's moonbase project - will be scrapped altogether. Mr Obama has already announced a three-year cap on some domestic spending. But education is expected to see record new investment, and defence spending would also increase.The Democrats who refused to pass many of the president's cost-cutting measures last year are also sceptical about some of the planned savings this year, our correspondent reports. He adds that the Republicans say the proposals do not go nearly far enough.