Obama Proposes Budget Against 2012 Campaign Backdrop

President Obama is sending Congress a new budget that seeks to achieve $4-trillion in deficit reduction over the next decade through cuts in government spending and higher taxes on the wealthy.

At the same time, he wants to boost spending in key areas such as transportation and education. The spending blueprint is certain to spark an election-year battle with Republicans, who are vowing to oppose Obama's tax hikes.

Naftali Bendavid, congressional reporter for the Wall Street Journal, told Here & Now's Robin Young that NASA and the EPA will see cuts, and meanwhile the president also included an increase for pipeline safety, which Bendavid says should be seen in the light of the debate over the proposed Keystone XL pipeline.

Bendavid says he doesn't want to predict, but the president could approve the pipeline and try to appease environmentalists with an increase in safety inspections.

Bendavid says he doesn't expect that to happen before the election.