Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said he believes the proposal may carry more weight this year, as there is a "consensus from almost everyone that we need to control deficits."
The president's budget also proposes saving money by streamlining rural housing assistance programs, merging U.S. Forest Service programs and cutting research grants and research construction projects.
Obama's proposal would direct an additional $56 million to research projects that reflect administration priorities. That includes nutrition and obesity research, a priority for first lady Michelle Obama, and research on food safety, bioenergy, food security and climate change.
Nutrition would also get a boost. The budget proposes repaying $2.2 billion that was cut from future food stamp accounts to pay for a child nutrition bill that was signed into law last year. The administration is also proposing an additional $35 million to bring grocery stores to low-income communities.
Agency: Commerce
Spending: $10.4 billion.
Percentage Change from 2011: 13.9 percent increase.
Discretionary Spending: $8.8 billion.
Highlights: The proposed Commerce Department budget includes money to advance President Barack Obama's goals of pushing innovation among entrepreneurs, providing high-speed Internet access to more Americans and expanding exports to foreign nations.
The budget plan would boost funds for federal laboratories that promote innovation. The National Institute of Standards and Technology laboratories, which have helped develop image processing, smoke detectors and pollution-control technology, would receive $764 million under the plan, an increase of more than $100 million.
The proposal would attempt to bring high-speed wireless to rural America, relying on $10 billion during the next several years to develop a national broadband network for public safety agencies and $5 billion to develop wireless broadband networks in rural areas. The administration would also promote exports with more than $500 million for the International Trade Administration.
The plan would cut funds for a grant program that helps public broadcasting stations bring educational and cultural programs to the public. It also would cut funds for a program established in 1999 that provides guaranteed loans to steel and iron ore companies.
Agency: Corps of Engineers
Spending: $4.6 billion
Percentage Change from 2011: 6.1 percent decrease
Discretionary Spending: $4.6 billion
Highlights: The big budget increases that the Corps of Engineers saw following Hurricane Katrina are officially over. For the second year in a row, the administration has proposed cutting the agency's budget. This year's cut of about 6 percent puts its annual spending at $4.6 billion — almost exactly where it stood in 2005, before Katrina destroyed the levees around New Orleans and prompted a rush of new spending to shore up aging water infrastructure around the country.
The recent cuts have been eased by the $4.6 billion for civil works under the 2009 stimulus bill.
The administration proposes spending about a third of the 2012 budget on new construction projects, mostly for bolstering flood and storm damage protection, improving commercial navigation in rivers and harbors, and restoring ecosystems in critical areas such as the Chesapeake Bay, California Bay-Delta, Everglades, and Great Lakes. Another $2.3 billion would go toward operating and maintaining existing dams, waterways, floodwalls and other infrastructure.
