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WASHINGTON, May 6 (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will unveil on Thursday details of his fiscal 2010 budget proposal that contains $17 billion in funding reductions, an administration official said on Wednesday.
Obama, who has vowed to cut the country's ballooning deficit in half by 2013, was widely panned last month when he challenged agencies to find $100 million in savings because critics said that was what the government spent in 13 minutes.
Congress has already passed a $3.4 trillion blueprint that will guide tax policy and government spending for the upcoming fiscal year which starts Oct. 1.
Asked by Reuters whether the budget document will contain other major new policy initiatives, the official, who asked not to be identified, said, "That's pretty much the news."
The White House has already revealed that Obama will include in the 2010 budget a $63 billion, six-year health initiative to help people in the world's poorest countries, largely bolstering existing programs.
(Reporting by Richard Cowan, Editing by Sandra Maler)