Overnight Finance: Obama budget breakdown

OBAMA UNVEILS $4.1 TRILLION BUDGET: President Obama released the last–and most expensive–budget of his presidency today. It costs more than $4 trillion and serves as more of an election-year agenda-setter than practical proposal, given the laundry list of long shot progressive ideas it contains. The Hill’s Sarah Ferris and Jordan Fabian look at the budget’s priorities in the context of the 2016 campaign: http://bit.ly/1Q7vBg6.

LET’S GO DEEPER: For a comprehensive look at the financial nuts and bolts of the budget– about 145 proposals dealing with government revenue, including about a half dozen that Obama has never proposed before–check out this breakdown from The Hill’s Naomi Jagoda: http://bit.ly/1Q7tpFl.

{mosads}GOP TRASHES PROPOSAL: Republicans railed against the budget shortly after its release. House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) called it “a progressive manual for growing the federal government at the expense of hardworking Americans,” while House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) said it’s “clearly about promoting his liberal legacy instead of securing America’s financial future.” Check out the full Republican reaction from Sarah Ferris: http://bit.ly/1QpSxkK, and Heritage Action’s take for lawmakers from Peter Schroeder: http://bit.ly/1mqxMxh.

SENATE DEMS PAN BUDGET SNUB: Senate Democrats are slamming Republicans for the “disrespectful” decision to ignore Obama’s final budget request.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), a Democratic presidential candidate who is also the ranking member of the Budget Committee, sent a letter to Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) with other Senate Democrats decrying the decision to skip hearings as “overt partisanship.”

The letter comes a day after House Democrats sent a similar note to House Budget Committee Chairman Tom Price (R-Ga.) The Hill’s Jordain Carney has more: http://bit.ly/1Tb569O.

HAPPY TUESDAY and welcome to Overnight Finance, where we’re keeping an eye on the New Hampshire primary results rolling in tonight. I’m Sylvan Lane, and here’s your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line.

Tonight’s includes Obama’s budget proposals for major policy areas, Paul Ryan teaming up with the Congressional Black Caucus and a boom in Postal Service business.

See something I missed? Let me know at slane@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com or tweet me @SylvanLane. And if you like your newsletter, you can subscribe to it here: http://www.digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com/signup/48.

ON TAP TONIGHT: We’ll find out who won the New Hampshire primaries. Stay with us at TheHill.com and @TheHill for updates and analysis.

ON TAP TOMORROW:

• Treasury Secretary Jack Lew and Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen will testify before the Senate Finance Committee about the budget at 10:30 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. respectively.
• Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell will testify before Ways and Means about the budget at 2 p.m.
• Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen will testify about monetary policy before the House Financial Services Committee at 10 a.m.
• Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) Chairman Tim Massad will testify before the House Agriculture Committee at 10 a.m. and the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Agriculture at 2 p.m.

OBAMA’S BUDGET AGENDA BROKEN DOWN: While Republicans certainly won’t pass Obama’s budget as is, the proposal reflects the administration’s priorities in an election year. Our crack team of policy reporters explained where Obama wants the money to go in their respective fields:

OBAMA GOES BIG ON HEALTHCARE: Obama proposed some of his boldest moves on healthcare yet, including measures to encourage state Medicaid expansion, adjusting a tax on high-cost healthcare plans and an “aggressive reform agenda” focused on how doctors and hospitals are paid. The budget also includes $1.5 billion dedicated to fighting the opioid epidemic, and $500 million to help people with mental illnesses. Sarah Ferris breaks it all down: http://bit.ly/1V1hsyY

CLEAN TRANSPORTATION PUSH: The budget includes $320 billion divided over ten years to bolster public transportation, an urban planning program and clean vehicle research. Here’s more from Keith Laing: http://bit.ly/1QpSvJP

A ‘CLIMATE-SMART’ ECONOMY: Obama is looking to double the federal government’s investment in clean energy research and development, from $6.4 billion in 2016 to $12.8 billion in 2021, according to the budget proposal. About 76 percent of the funding for research and development will go toward Department of Energy research programs. Devin Henry lays it out: http://bit.ly/1O1KskB

A BALANCE ON WAR SPENDING: The Pentagon’s $582.7 billion budget increases spending on combat readiness, but reduces planned purchases of aircraft, ships and other systems.

It aims to strike a balance between funding the administration’s current efforts in Afghanistan and against the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria while also setting aside funds to prepare for far-off future conflicts. Kristina Wong walks us through it: http://bit.ly/20U2ZZk.

HELP FOR PUERTO RICO: The proposal includes several policy changes aimed squarely at helping the territory boost its economy, and get out from under a debt burden island officials say is unmanageable.

Among the changes are bankruptcy power for Puerto Rico, an expansion of the Earned Income Tax Credit for the island, and increased Medicaid funds. All the policy changes, if enacted, would apply to Puerto Rico and other U.S. territories. Peter Schroeder explains why it’s important: http://bit.ly/1KakTDc.

RYAN, BLACK LAWMAKERS COULD TEAM UP AGAINST POVERTY: Speaker Ryan and other top Republicans are taking a serious look at adopting a sweeping anti-poverty plan long championed by black Democrats on Capitol Hill. It’s got interest from the House Appropriations chief, and Ryan has told the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) he’s pressing GOP appropriators to consider the CBC’s strategy of shifting more federal money to parts of the country with persistent poverty. The Hill’s Mike Lillis explains: http://bit.ly/1QpUb5S.

“Ryan is placing more emphasis on alleviating poverty in a presidential election year when the GOP desperately needs to make inroads with minorities. He has expressed regret about not talking more about poverty during his vice presidential run in 2012 and is seeking to rectify that mistake now that he’s the top-ranking Republican on Capitol Hill.

“At Ryan’s request, Rogers said he intends to broach the topic of targeted poverty funding with Rep. James Clyburn (D-S.C.), an influential CBC member who’s been the most vocal proponent of the so-called 10-20-30 strategy. Clyburn’s model would direct at least 10 percent of federal spending on discretionary programs to communities where at least 20 percent of the population has lived below the poverty line for at least the last 30 years.”

AMERICA WENT POSTAL IN DECEMBER: A record number of holiday packages helped push the Postal Service toward a profitable first quarter for the new fiscal year.

The mail service reported $1.3 billion in controllable income — that’s income that covers the service’s operational expenses but not large prepayments into a retiree health benefit fund — and $307 million in net income for the stretch spanning from Oct. 1 through Dec. 31. Both of those numbers are up from the same period one year earlier. Peter Schroeder explains: http://bit.ly/1PAjMcx.

NIGHTCAP: The United States is a pretty beautiful country, and Obama’s budget flaunts it with a gorgeous picture of Denali on the cover. Denali is the tallest mountain in the U.S. While your Overnight Finance author enjoyed the picture, some Republican lawmakers joked that it represented the mountain of debt the new budget would bring–among other unwelcome conditions.

Write us with tips, suggestions and news: slane@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com, vneedham@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com, pschroeder@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com, and njagoda@digital-release.digital-release.thehill.com. Follow us on Twitter: @SylvanLane,  @VickofTheHill, @PeteSchroeder, and @NJagoda.