When President Obama meets with House Democrats tonight during their retreat in Philadelphia, officials say he'll lay out the details of his budget proposal, which will include reversal of large cuts to federal spending instituted in 2013, reports NPR's Mara Liasson.
Those spending cuts, known as the sequester, hit both the defense and domestic budgets and were the result of congressional gamesmanship when the parties couldn't agree on spending priorities.
The president officially will release his fiscal 2016 budget to the public on Monday; White House officials say it also will include boosted spending on education, infrastructure and the military, offset by closing tax loopholes used by the wealthy.
Congressional Republicans are unlikely to accept those proposals, Mara reports.
Responding to Obama's State of the Union address earlier this month, Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said her party would support tax reform, "to lower rates — and create jobs, not pay for more government spending." She also said the Republican caucus would pursue a balanced budget.
A White House official, in prepared remarks sent to the media Wednesday night, said Obama hopes to work with Republicans to build on 2013's bipartisan budget agreement.
"The president believes we should end the era of manufactured crises and mindless austerity," the statement read.
The stuffed-full "cromnibus" budget bill rushed through the lame-duck Senate in December funds the government through the end of the fiscal year in September.
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