--- title: Obama's New 2014 Budget Filled With Political Messages description: If budgets are political documents, President Barack Obama's latest offering is something akin to a partisan opus. That doesn't mean it's heading anywhere. Democrats in... canonical: https://time.com/12337/obama-budget-filled-with-political-messaging-2014/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-04T16:33:43.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:34:11.596Z article:section: Politics og:title: Obama's New 2014 Budget Filled With Political Messages og:description: If budgets are political documents, President Barack Obama's latest offering is something akin to a partisan opus. That doesn't mean it's heading anywhere. Democrats in... og:url: https://time.com/12337/obama-budget-filled-with-political-messaging-2014/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt008fadab6dd8f089/698683df810bbb30f7c904a5/was8356511.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 6144 og:image:height: 3456 og:image:alt: President Barack Obama addresses the National Organizing summit in Washington on February 25, 2014. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Obama's New 2014 Budget Filled With Political Messages twitter:description: If budgets are political documents, President Barack Obama's latest offering is something akin to a partisan opus. That doesn't mean it's heading anywhere. Democrats in... twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt008fadab6dd8f089/698683df810bbb30f7c904a5/was8356511.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Obama's Budget Filled With Election Year Political Messages > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: August 2026. ## TIME D.C. Brief: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition D.C. Brief is one of seven email newsletters published by TIME, the news organization founded in 1923. Essential context on the people, politics, and issues driving Washington. D.C. Brief goes beyond the Washington headlines to explain the politics, personalities and power dynamics shaping what happens next. Senior correspondent Philip Elliott brings sharp context to the issues driving the capital, connecting the decisions made in Washington to the institutions, industries and people they affect. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Mar 4, 2014 4:33 PM UTC  President Barack Obama addresses the National Organizing summit in Washington on February 25, 2014. President Barack Obama addresses the National Organizing summit in Washington on February 25, 2014. Nicholas Kamm—AFP/Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Mar 4, 2014 4:33 PM UTC If budgets are political documents, President Barack Obama’s latest offering is something akin to a partisan opus. That doesn’t mean it’s heading anywhere. Democrats in the Senate will not proceed with a budget resolution this year, and the House, if it acts at all, will almost certainly hew to a GOP vision. Indeed, lawmakers have already approved spending figures for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1\. Instead with Washington squarely focused on this fall’s midterm elections, Obama’s $3.9 trillion budget represents a laundry-list of policy proposals designed to help Democrats hold the Senate and pick up seats in the House. Obama essentially conceded the point last month, when the White House [announced](http://swampland.time.com/2014/02/20/budget-chained-cpi-barack-obama-john-boehner/) he is dropping calls for an unpopular, but cost-saving measure to change the way inflation is calculated for the purposes of entitlement programs like Social Security. That compromise was intended to be a good-faith offer to Republicans as part of a grand bargain, but gridlock and declining deficits have placed the national debt on the backburner. The new budget, by contrast, is chock full of wedge issues designed to exploit the divide between Democrats and Republicans, and it has been released under Obama’s populist State of the Union theme “Opportunity for all,” which the president hopes to make a rallying cry for Democrats this year. It includes tax breaks for many low- and middle-income Americans paid for by the closing of loopholes used by the nation’s wealthiest and supported by many Republicans, including the carried interest exemption. It would also institute the so-called “Buffett Rule” by instituting a minimum tax rate of 30 percent on people earning more than $1 million a year, ensuring they pay an effective tax rate above those of middle-class Americans. The budget also includes additional funding to improve background checks for gun purchases and money to help state and local police forces train for active shooter incidents in the wake of Sandy Hook. It adds $1 billion for a “Climate Resilience Fund” to help research and prepare for the effects of climate change. It would even increase federal defense spending by $28 billion over the caps set in the 2013 budget agreement. Other proposals include a “race to the top”-style program to incentivize states and localities to embrace energy efficiency legislation. There’s additional funding for job training and infrastructure that Obama has long requested but has never been able to get through Congress, and a proposal to auto-enroll Americans in retirement savings accounts. The budget also restates Obama’s calls for existing priorities like continuing the Affordable Care Act and passing comprehensive immigration reform. It repeats his call from last year’s budget to extend pre-k education for more children, paid for partly by higher taxes on tobacco products. The Democratic wish-list already has Republicans worried. Privately Republicans are pressing the House to avoid proceeding with a budget this year, as the Senate is doing, so as not to play into the White House’s hand. The proposals, meanwhile, are carefully calibrated to be individually popular, allowing Democrats with what to run on this fall, while the guaranteed dead-end ensures they won’t have to take a tough vote that Republicans could use to resurrect fiscal issues. “After years of fiscal and economic mismanagement, the president has offered perhaps his most irresponsible budget yet,” Speaker of the House John Boehner said in a statement. “American families looking for jobs and opportunity will find only more government in this plan.” The administration fact sheet on the budget is below: \[scribd id=210531086 key=key-2agu28dewjmg0y2t26k0 mode=scroll\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/12337/obama-budget-filled-with-political-messaging-2014/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/12337/obama-budget-filled-with-political-messaging-2014/"},"headline":"Obama's Budget Filled With Election Year Political Messages","datePublished":"2014-03-04T16:33:43.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:34:11.596Z","description":"If budgets are political documents, President Barack Obama's latest offering is something akin to a partisan opus. 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