Politics

Agriculture officials say the President’s proposed budget for the USDA next year will be similar to this year’s. Although the overall budget has been cut by $3 billion since 2010, funding for several programs that have helped boost agriculture production and export in Colorado and across the country will likely continue or increase.

President Obama laid out his proposed federal budget for 2013 at a community college in Virginia on Monday. The $ 3.8 trillion plan calls for new government spending, including stimulus-style spending on roads. It also seeks to achieve $4 trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade

The spending plan would save a projected $364 billion from the Medicare and Medicaid. But as NPR's Julie Rovner reports, none of the proposals for those savings are new.

As has happened to many of the Republican presidential candidates before him, Rick Santorum was "mic checked" at a campaign rally in Washington, yesterday.

As the Bellingham Herald reports it, Santorum was speaking at a venue right next to the Occupy Tacoma encampment and was met with chants almost as soon as he started talking.

The state senate will take up a measure this week on whether to allow civil unions in Colorado. A similar bill failed last year in the Republican controlled house by a single vote.