Obama unveiling campaign-year budget focused on economy as deficit-reduction pressure fades

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama is unwrapping a nearly $4 trillion budget that gives Democrats an election-year playbook for fortifying the economy and bolstering peoples’ incomes. It also underscores how pressure has faded to launch bold, new attacks on federal deficits.

Obama is sending his 2015 fiscal blueprint to Congress Tuesday. It is expected to include proposals to upgrade roads, finance pre-kindergarten programs and enhance job training.

The White House said it would enlarge the earned income tax credit to cover 13.5 million low-earning workers without children and provide other tax breaks.

Aides say Obama’s budget will obey overall spending limits Congress enacted in December, following a bipartisan compromise. But he will also propose an additional $56 billion in defence and domestic spending — paid for with spending cuts and revenue increases.