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.
