Obama will propose an election-year budget that would drop reductions he had previously embraced in federal benefits, officials disclosed Thursday.
He also will ask Congress to approve about $56 billion in new or expanded programs, stepping back from aggressive efforts to tackle long-term government deficits and debt.
Obama is scrapping his previous offer to trim cost-of-living increases in Social Security and other benefit programs.
That idea had been a central component of his long-term debt-reduction strategy.
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/officials-obama-drops-budget-cost-living-trims-22601625?page=2