Question

meeting the spending targets in this budget meant some very difficult choices
president barack obama,
2012 budget message of the president
read the passage
what did the president mean when he said he had to face \very difficult choices\ when creating a federal budget?
○ deciding which country to borrow from to finance spending
○ deciding what would be funded and what would be cut
○ deciding how to keep interest rates low on the national debt
○ deciding how much to increase tax rates

Explanation:

To determine the president's meaning, we analyze each option:

• The first option about borrowing from a country is not a typical part of federal budget - making choices related to spending targets.
• When creating a federal budget and meeting spending targets, the key difficult choice is about allocating funds, i.e., deciding what programs or areas get funded and what gets cut due to budget constraints.
• The third option about keeping interest rates low on national debt is more related to monetary policy (handled by the Federal Reserve) rather than budget - making choices about spending targets.
• The fourth option about increasing tax rates is a revenue - related decision, not directly about spending targets and the choices in allocating spending.

Answer:

B. deciding what would be funded and what would be cut