The day after President Bush released his $3.1 trillion budget for FY 2009, analysts and advocacy groups have begun to roll out reactions and statements on the proposal. Below are a few out so far: CBPP: Federal Grants to State and Localities Cut Deeply CBPP: The Dubious Priorities of the President's Budget FRAC: Statement on Nutrition Program Changes in Budget NWLC: Bush Budget Locks in Gains for the Rich, Short Changes Women and Families We'll post more statements and analyses as they are released. OMB Watch's overview of the budget will be released this afternoon in the next edition of The Watcher (Sign up here if you don't receive The Watcher).

BNA reported this morning that, what with galloping expenditures on the war in Iraq, an unanticipated expense in trying to head of recession with a stimulus package, and the reduction in corporate tax revenues from the economic slowdown, "we could easily hit a $500 billion deficit this year," according to the director of the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). That would far exceed the nominal record of $412 billion, set in 2004

...while maintaining payments to insurance companies through flawed Medicare Advantage program Reporting in the International Herald Tribune, Robert Pear reports that the president's budget, which will be released Monday, will slash Medicare and Medicaid spending to an even greater extent than his FY 2008 request.