Yesterday, President Obama released his detailed budget for FY 2010.

In addition to healthcare reform, efforts to strengthen the economy and strategies to decrease the national deficit, the President has more than doubled funding for some programs and fully funded new programs that provide economic opportunity to low-and moderate-income Americans.

The budget supports asset-building by allocating:

• $24 million for Assets for Independence, the federal program that funds Individual Development Accounts (IDAs).
• $5 million for the Beginning Farmer and Rancher IDA Program, this is a new program with full funding.
• $25 million for microloans as well as support for technical assistance programs that give entrepreneurs access to counseling and business development expertise.
• $7 million to make Pell Grant funding mandatory and increase as well as index maximum awards.
• $2.5 billion Access and Completion Incentive Fund, a new five-year program to support innovative state efforts to help low-income students succeed and complete their college education.
• $2 million to pilot housing counseling program.

Within the next two years, the budget also proposes to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit, make the American Opportunity Tax Credit for higher education permanent, expand Child Tax Credit, and increase retirement security through auto enrollment.

We are especially pleased to learn that the administration has expressed an interest in working with Congress to revise asset limits for federal means-tested programs. It also takes steps to reverse the system of upside-down wealth subsidies by capping the mortgage interest, property tax and other deductions at 28%.

Advocates can learn more about this tremendous opportunity to promote policies that help low-income families build and maintain wealth by attending a webinar hosted by CFED. Click here to learn more and register.

For more information on the budget, click here.