After Tripling US Deficit Obama Wants to Freeze Discretionary Spending (Except for spending on military, veterans, international affairs, Social Security, Medicare…)
Posted by Jim Hoft on Monday, January 25, 2010, 9:10 PM
Obama and Congressional democrats tripled the US national deficit in one year. But after the shocker in Massachusetts last week Barack Obama called for a freeze in discretionary spending today… on only 17% of the federal budget.
Barack Obama called for a discretionary spending freeze on 17% of the total federal budget today. The freeze would not include funding for the military, veterans, homeland security, international affairs, Social Security and Medicare.
The Wall Street Journal reported:
President Barack Obama intends to propose a three-year freeze in spending that accounts for one-sixth of the federal budget—a move meant to quell rising concern over the deficit but whose practical impact will be muted.
To attack the $1.4 trillion deficit, the White House will propose limits on discretionary spending unrelated to the military, veterans, homeland security and international affairs, according to senior administration officials. Also untouched are big entitlement programs such as Social Security and Medicare.
The freeze would affect $447 billion in spending, or 17% of the total federal budget, and would likely be overtaken by growth in the untouched areas of discretionary spending. It’s designed to save $250 billion over the coming decade, compared with what would have been spent had this area been allowed to rise along with inflation.
The administration officials said the cap won’t be imposed across the board. Some areas would see cuts while others, including education and investments related to job creation, would realize increases.
For the record, Democrats are likely to quadruple Bush’s 2008 budget deficit this year after tripling it last year.
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Published May 23, 2012 at 11:51 pm - 66 Comments
Jeff commented:
so he’ll freeze it at the inflated 2009 numbers ???
so we can expect 1.5 trillion + dollar deficits for the next decade ?
what a comedian … O-3bama … soon to be O-4bama and O-5bama …
narciso commented:
It’s a good start, but he has a ways to go:
http://www.facebook.com/notes/sarah-palin/mr-president-please-try-im-listening-people-instead-of-listen-up-people/267042703434
Dell commented:
It’s kinda like the 50% off sale. The retail price reflects a 300% markup from cost, so the seller “only” makes a 150% profit.
Now that the spending figures are unbelievably high, it’s time to declare a moratorium on spending. So, we’ll “level spend” for a few years, which means we’ll still be spending outrageous amounts of money; we’ll just be able to always come back and say “But, we instituted a level spending program!”.
Right now I don’t think it really matters…We’re broke.
LC commented:
You KNOW it’s bad when Democrats are calling for a ‘spending freeze’. All is well! Remain calm! All is well!!!
Hedgehog commented:
LC: “May I have a thousand marbles, please?”
Dave Johnson commented:
Actually the 2009 fiscal year was Bush’s last budget.
down with dems commented:
McCain wanted to freeze spending in 2008, which Obama ridiculed. Now after inflating spending in 2009 Obama wants to freeze it, except he is putting so many restrictions on what can get frozen that the savings it will generate is a mere drop in the bucket.
$250million saved over a decade = $25million per year in savings
That won’t even pay for a third of the stimulus bill folks, let alone the interest on the loan from China we had to take out in order to spend the stimulus money. When the deficit is in the TRILLions, savings of MILLions are virtually invisible.
The current national debt as of this second is over $12.3trillion (and rising). $250million (over ten years) is 0.002% of the national debt.
That’s the equivalent of saving:
2cents on a $1,000 purchase
20cents on a $10,000 purchase
$2 on a $100,000 purchase
$20 on a $1,000,000 purchase
You get the idea.
He wants praise and accolades for being the redeemer who is going to save us with his thrifty ways (after his year-long spendthrifty binge)… but what he’s proposing to do is virtually nothing.
jenny commented:
Oh, look! A pony!
Melvin Winter commented:
Brings to mind this parody of a previous Obama cost-saving promise: Scientists Discover President Obama’s Budget Savings With Electron Microscope http://optoons.blogspot.com/2009/04/scientists-discover-president-obamas.html
TheScribbler commented:
Too little, too late. Obama is just trying to veer to the middle so he can pacify the masses. Haven’t you noticed that when he’s out and about these days speaking to the people that he no longer wears a tie. Oh yeah. He’s one of us folks. He’s just an average guy that became POTUS. He feels our pain. He’s walked the walk. He’s known what it’s like to go for months without work and having bill collectors calling a hundred times a day. Oh yes, he’s been in the unemployment line. He knows how hard it is to put gas in your vehicle and food in your pantry. Obama….he’ll never be anything but a liar and a fool. If he thinks that people are just going to magically forget all that he’s done to take away our futures, to change our country and to tread on our Constitution. I think that we need to bring back the saying, “NEVER FORGET!”
Never forget what Obama and the Democrat super majority has done. Much too little, much too late. And you have to know that there are strings attached and bribes and payoffs to be given for anything that he tries to push forward.
Never Forget, Never Forgive!
Marie commented:
This is just another bait and switch by Obama. He never plans on actually cutting spending. But it has a nice ring to it and tests well in the focus groups they ran today.
Robert commented:
So, the government’s skipping dinner
after winning a hot-dog eating contest.
sandy commented:
Today Obama said — The Democratic Congress thinks they are there to get reelected. Well that’s not what they’re there for–they’re there to do the people’s business — meaning they are there to he tells them and if they lose that’s ok as long as he gets what he wants.
sandy commented:
When the Dems lose big in November Obama will blame them for ruining the economy.
Kunta Kinte commented:
Wouldn’t this mean that Congress will actually have to read the bills to ensure there is no spending in them…including Obooboo….
Daniel commented:
Exactly how does freezing spending on programs that were going to have millions in cuts going to be any good at all?
Idiots.
DMartyr commented:
Foreign aid will be exempt from the freeze. That means we’ll continue to shell out 100′s of millions to countries that hate us, just for the appearance that they might some time in the future consider thinking about possibly making an effort to control islamic terrorism within their borders.
Chisum commented:
CBS: You won’t believe the costs of Congressional junket to Copenhagen
http://hotair.com/archives/2010/01/26/cbs-you-wont-believe-the-costs-of-congressional-junket-to-copenhagen/
eaglewingz08 commented:
A savings of 25 Billion out of a 3.9 TRILLION Dollar budget? What’s that less than one percent reduction? What a belt tightening measure.
Lurking Observer commented:
To be fair, Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are all NOT discretionary spending, but are part of entitlement spending. Like interest on the national debt, there is no option on paying that out.
So, neither Obama, nor Congress can actually freeze such spending (although they could choose not to make a cost-of-living adjustment, for example).
But that only means that, to curb spending, you’d have to freeze or even cut truly discretionary spending, such as military, vets, foreign aid, welfare, National Endowment for the Arts, farm subsidies, etc.
What are the chances of that?
Joanne commented:
So do Obama’s Whitehouse parties fall under discretionary spending……or whaaaaaat?