WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama said today he will ask all of his department and agency heads for specific proposals for cutting their budgets at his Cabinet meeting early next week as he searches for ways to streamline government spending.

Obama, who is attending the Summit of the Americas in Trinidad this weekend, said in his weekly radio and Internet address he would make the request for cuts Monday at a Cabinet meeting.

"In the coming weeks, I will be announcing the elimination of dozens of government programs shown to be wasteful or ineffective," he said. "In this effort, there will be no sacred cows and no pet projects. All across America, families are making hard choices, and it's time their government did the same."

Obama said in his address Cabinet officials were already taking steps to cut spending.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano "is ending consulting contracts to create new seals and logos that have cost the Department of Homeland Security $3 million since 2003," he said.

And Defense Secretary Robert Gates "has launched a historic project to reform defense contracting procedures and eliminate hundreds of billions of dollars in wasteful spending and cost overruns."