Bush sends Congress first-ever $3.1 trillion budget

President Bush sent the nation's first-ever $3 trillion budget proposal to Congress, contending that the spending blueprint will fulfill his chief responsibility to keep America safe. The $3.1 trillion proposed budget projects sizable increases in national security but forces the rest of government to pinch pennies. It seeks $196 billion in savings over five years in the government's giant healthcare programs--Medicare and Medicaid. But even with those restraints, the budget projects the deficits will soar to near-record levels of $410 billion this year and $407 billion in 2009, driven higher in part by efforts to revive the sagging economy with a $145 billion stimulus package.