US President Barack Obama unveils 2011 budget plans
Mr Obama faces mounting criticism for the amount of government spending
US President Barack Obama has announced a $3.8tn (£2.4tn) budget plan which includes increased spending for job schemes, but cuts in other areas.
His budget envisages the US deficit rising to a record $1.56tn this year.
He scrapped plans to send astronauts back to the Moon, and will seek to save $250bn by capping a range of domestic programmes for three years.
Congress must approve the budget for the financial year that starts on 1 October for it to take effect.
Mr Obama urged lawmakers to follow his lead on reducing "waste in programmes I care about".
He added: "We cannot continue to spend as if deficits do not matter."
Having pledged in last week＇s State of the Union address to make job creation his top priority, Mr Obama proposed $100bn for tax breaks to encourage businesses to hire staff.
The deficit has been affected by a drop in tax revenue from the 7.2 million people who have lost jobs since the recession began. Unemployment now stands at 10%.
The economic stimulus package of $787bn announced in February 2009 has also had an impact on the deficit.
There is a real tension in what the White House is trying to do with next year＇s budget, the BBC＇s Richard Lister in Washington reports.
On the one hand, the Obama administration wants to spend more money on things like green technology to create jobs, while on the other it is trying to scale back spending to shrink the deficit, our correspondent says.
In all, about 120 government programmes are being be cut back.
Some big-ticket items - like Nasa＇s Moon base project - will be scrapped altogether.
The plan to establish an American base on the Moon was announced by President George W Bush in 2004.
Under Mr Obama＇s budget plans, Nasa would get funding to encourage private companies to build, launch and operate their own spacecraft, which could be used to carry astronauts to the International Space Station.
Mr Obama has already announced a three-year cap on some domestic spending.
But education will see record investment and defence spending would also increase.
The Democrats - who refused to pass many of the president＇s cost-cutting measures last year - are also sceptical about some of the planned savings this year, our correspondent reports.
He adds that the Republicans say the proposals do not go nearly far enough.
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