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The Hill The Obama administration will release its 2014 budget more than two months late on April 8, according to congressional sources. Pentagon officials have informed the House Armed Services Committee that the budget is coming on April 8, said Claude Chafin, a committee spokesman. A Democratic congressional source confirmed that is the planned release date. The April release means President Obama's budget will be nine weeks late, as it was due by law on Feb. 4, the first Monday in February. Republicans have slammed Obama for delaying the budget so far past the deadline. "This indicates a troubling unwillingness to lead," Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), the ranking member of the Senate Budget Committee, said of the new delay. "It is odd to me that the president would not have a plan and want the Congress to consider it." “Will he ever commit himself to a plan? He has been very effective in criticizing others,” Sessions said. “The budget is so late, it doesn’t give me much confidence. It is almost like he is leading from behind even more than before. “ Congressional sources said last week that they had been told the budget was coming on March 25, meaning the latest April 8 release date would be yet another delay. Under the law, the president must submit a budget by the first Monday in February, but Obama has met the deadline only once. The White House declined to confirm the budget delay at a press briefing on Friday. "I don't have a budget date to announce to you," White House deputy press secretary Josh Earnest said. But Earnest also pointed the finger at Congress when explaining the lengthy delay in producing a budget document. "The budget has been delayed because some of the impediments that have been thrown in the path of those working on it," Earnest said, citing the sequester and the “fiscal cliff" as complicating the budget forecast. The administration’s budget typically kicks off the annual budgeting process, as Congress then shapes its budget resolution on the president's request. But this year that process is reversed, as both House Budget Commitee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) and Senate Budget Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-WA) are planning to release their 2014 budgets next week. READ FULL SOURCE ARTICLE: 03/08/2013 The BasicsProject.org informational and educational pamphlet series is now available for Kindle and iPad. Click here to find out more... The New Media Journal and BasicsProject.org are not funded by outside sources. We exist exclusively on tax deductible donations from our readers and contributors. Please make a tax deductible donation today.
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