Obama delays budget release by a week

The Obama administration announced today it will release its proposed budget on Feb. 13, a week later than scheduled.

"As in previous years, the date was determined based on the need to finalize decisions and technical details of the document," said an announcement from the Office of Management and Budget.

(OMB also announced it will not be providing free bound copies of the document to the media, calling it a cost-saving measure.)

Congressional Republicans blasted the delayed budget. Under federal law, the president must submit a budget by the first Monday in February. As a result, that last day before the deadline has become the de facto date.

But Obama violated the law last year with a one-week delay, and he's doing it again this year.

"This will mark the third time in four years the president has missed his statutory requirement to present a budget on time, while trillion-dollar budget deficits continue to mount," said Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., chairman of the House Budget Committee.

Ryan added: "As the President announces another missed deadline, tomorrow marks the 1,000th day Senate Democrats have gone without any budget at all."

Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, top Republican on the Senate Budget Committee, called it "an inauspicious way to launch his State of the Union address."

"In this, the final year of his term, one would think he would be ready and eager to lay out his detailed plan for our nation's financial future," Sessions said. "He speaks of the American people's economic suffering, yet he would, at such a time, delay fulfilling this fundamental duty on their behalf."

And Sen. Rob Portman, R-Ohio, a former White House budget director in the Bush administration, suggested Obama get off the campaign trail.

"I'm incredibly concerned that, with a record national debt now equal to 100% of our GDP, the president is unable to put forward a plan to address Washington's out of control debt and deficits," Portman said. "If I were advising President Obama, I'd recommend less time campaigning and more time spent addressing the impending fiscal crisis. We need a budget with a responsible spending restraint and pro-growth reforms, and we need it now.