Good morning.
For those following the news about the federal budget and efforts to bring the government's annual deficits and exploding long-term debt under control, the big story today is the address that President Obama is scheduled to give at 1:35 p.m. ET.
He'll be at George Washington University in Washington, D.C., to, as NPR's Liz Halloran writes, "lay out his plan for tackling the deficit with a mix of spending cuts and tax increases on high earners."
We're planning to live-blog the address. Frank James will be offering analysis over at It's All Politics.
On Morning Edition, NPR's Mara Liasson told host Renee Montagne that "the big news from this speech is going to be that he will embrace much of the recommendations of his own deficit reduction commission. ... This is the Bowles-Simpson plan he has kept at arms length until now."
That commission's work is posted here. As we've reported previously, among the things the commission has proposed are raising the Social Security retirement age and curtailing such popular tax deductions as that for mortgage interest.
Also onMorning Edition, NPR's Scott Horsley focused on the Republican budget blueprint, unveiled last week by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).
Meanwhile, Politico this morning looks at the "7 things Barack Obama should say in his speech at GWU." No. 1: "He needs to reach beyond Washington and lay out the case to voters, who care about the deficit — but not as much as job creation, according to the polls."
Bloomberg News' headline says the president will "call for cuts in entitlement spending, higher taxes for rich."
USA Today's The Oval blog reports that Obama will "focus on four items ... lower domestic spending, less defense spending, excess spending in Medicare and Medicaid, and elimination of tax breaks that favor the wealthy."
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