Obama More Effective On Spending Cuts

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2010_01/021922.php

OBAMA MORE EFFECTIVE ON SPENDING CUTS.... When George W. Bush was in the White House, he'd do what lots of presidents would do: talk about cutting federal spending. Of course, there's a big difference between talking about something and actually doing it.

President Obama notched substantial successes in spending cuts last year, winning 60 percent of his proposed cuts and managing to get Congress to ax several programs that had bedeviled President George W. Bush for years.

The administration says Congress accepted at least $6.9 billion of the $11.3 billion in discretionary spending cuts Mr. Obama proposed for the current fiscal year. An analysis by The Washington Times found that Mr. Obama was victorious in getting Congress to slash 24 programs and achieved some level of success in reducing nine other programs.

Among the president's victories are canceling the multibillion-dollar F-22 Raptor program, ending the LORAN-C radio-based ship navigation system and culling a series of low-dollar education grants. In each of those cases, Mr. Obama succeeded in eliminating programs that Mr. Bush repeatedly failed to end.

"This is a very strong beginning for the president's efforts to shape a budget that invests in programs that work and that ends programs that don't," said Tom Gavin, a spokesman for the White House budget office. "The Congress has approved more than 60 percent of the president's proposals, and that's a high mark, that's a strong beginning."

It obviously helps that we have a Democratic president working with a Democratic Congress, but note that when there was a Republican president basically telling a Republican Congress what to do, GOP policymakers didn't cut spending as much as Obama did last year.

It's also worth keeping in mind that Republican lawmakers -- the ones who claim to be more aggressive when it comes to cutting spending -- also fought bitterly last year against every proposed reduction offered by the White House, most notably when it came to health care.

What's more, when the president reached out to Republicans over the summer, urging them to put together a list of spending cuts they'd like to see, the GOP caucus came up with $23 billion in proposed cuts over five years -- far less than the White House plan to reduce spending over the same period.

For all the complaining from the Tea Party crowd, there's an odd disconnect. These folks applauded a Republican president who increased the deficit and increased the size of government, but they literally take to the streets to denounce a Democratic president who has cut taxes, cut spending, and makes sure his proposals are paid for. Why throw a fit over the more fiscally responsible president?

—Steve Benen

[inna]

1. Fabulous, just fabulous.

Obama's

main deficit-cutting priorities would be dealing with Medicare and Medicaid

and

reducing non-defense discretionary spending

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE5BG07H20091217


Meanwhile, military spending is at record levels: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States

x(

On edit: not to mention, countless TRILLIONS given to the banksters.

Disgusting, absolutely disgusting.

:(

[babylonsister]

2. So you, like the teabaggers, approve of the rethugs who

have proved to be even less effective. Got it. :eyes:

[inna]

4. Stop your ridiculous personal attacks and absurd accusations.

No, I do not "approve of the rethugs", "like the teabaggers". What a truly idiotic comment.

:thumbsdown:

[OHdem10]

3. If not discussed on all TV Stations, most Americans will not know

especially Teabaggers.

[levander]

5. You guys are celebrating nothing...

7 billion is nothing. If you guys praise him for that, we're never gonna make a dent in the national debt.

There was one bill, the federal highway bill that has to be renewed like every 5 years. The original estimate was like $200 billion, Bush made some claim that he wasn't going to sign anything over $84 billion, the bill came in at $85 billion and he signed it. So, he saved $115 billion with one bill! Thing is, we all know he still spent way too much in his administration despite his victory on that one little bill.

And, Obama's in midst of trying to pass a HCR bill based on the false claim that they're gonna cut half a trillion off Medicare. You read the Center for Medicare Services report, and it's just not possible to cut Medicare that much. Not possible. Plus the political trickery of the 5 years of service, 10 years of revenue crap on that bill.

Obama is in the middle of trying to spend hundreds of billions on HCR while implementing next to no cost controls on it. And, you guys are hopping up and down about $7 billion? WTF.

And remember, there are alternatives out there that get us to universal coverage and cause us to spend less than we are now on health care. Healthy Americans Act, anyone?