Obama will Propose More than $1 Trillian in Deficit Reduction.

Good News: The Obama administration will release a federal budget today for the fiscal year beginning October 1, that cuts the total federal deficit by more than $1.1 trillion over the next decade, two thirds of it through cuts in domestic spending. Among the social programs to be gutted are Pell Grants for working-class students and the LIHEAP program, which provides heating assistance for low-income families and the elderly. According to the Associated Press, an administration official says President Barack Obama is proposing to cut $100 billion over a decade from the Pell Grant program through belt-tightening, but use the savings to keep the maximum college financial aid award at $5,550. No details were provided, but apparently the plan is to reduce the number of recipients of Pell Grants in order to avoid reducing the dollar amount of the individual awards. The result will be tens of thousands fewer students from low-income families receiving a college education. The New York Times reported Two-thirds of the reductions that Obama will claim are from cuts in domestic spending programs, including many he has supported in the past.