A round-up of public finance news stories from the US and Canada you might have missed this week (April 1–5).

Obama budget to offer program cuts, seek deficit deal: official

President Barack Obama will offer cuts to Social Security and other entitlement programmes in a budget proposal aimed at swaying Republicans to compromise on a deficit-reduction deal, a senior administration official said on Friday (Reuters).

Audit says Katrina aid may have been misspent

Federal investigators have revealed that as much as $700m in federal aid intended to help some 24,000 Louisiana families elevate their homes after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005 may have been misspent (Wall Street Journal).

Canadian federal government on the hook for $3.5bn in ‘unavoidable' severance payments

The federal government expects to pay more than $3.5bn in accumulated severance over three years to public servants…(National Post).

White House says 480 on president's budget staff receive furlough notices due to budget fight

The White House says 480 workers on the president’s budget staff have been notified they may have to take days off without pay because of a partisan budget stalemate (The Washington Post).

Two former US budget chiefs issue a fiscal warning

Two former US budget chiefs who worked for presidents from opposing political parties said on Monday that the government should reduce military spending, scale back Social Security payments and end decade-old income tax cuts to reduce the federal deficit (Reuters).