White House lists some proposed cuts in 2011 budget

President Barack Obama delivers his first State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, January 27, 2010.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Barack Obama will propose cutting or changing some 120 items in his budget for fiscal 2011 that will help save $20 billion this year, the White House said on Saturday.

Obama, who on Monday presents his budget proposals for the fiscal year starting October 1, has promised to tackle record deficits by initiating a spending freeze on some domestic programs and eliminating programs that are redundant.

The White House gave a preview of some of those cuts in a statement published on its blog on Saturday.

One of the proposals would eliminate the "Advanced Earned Income Tax Credit," which allows eligible taxpayers with children to get a portion of the a tax credit paid out in their paychecks throughout the year.

The White House said only 514,000 people -- 3 percent of those eligible -- claimed the credit and the error rate for the program was high, with 80 percent of recipients not complying with one or more of the program's requirements.

"This ineffective and prone-to-error program should be eliminated," White House Communications Director Dan Pfeiffer said in the statement.

Other changes would include consolidating 38 programs at the Department of Education into 11 to clamp down on inefficiencies and demand greater accountability from states and school districts on grant programs.

(Reporting by Jeff Mason; editing by Mohammad Zargham)