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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Bindare_Dundat on April 14, 2011, 04:52:21 PM
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http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_exclusive/20110414/pl_yblog_exclusive/why-38-5b-budget-deal-will-only-cut-spending-by-352m
A Congressional Budget Office analysis of the fiscal 2011 spending deal that Congress passed Thursday concludes that it would cut spending this year by less than one-one hundredth of what both Republicans or Democrats have claimed.
A comparison prepared by the CBO shows that the omnibus spending bill, advertised as containing some $38.5 billion in cuts, will only reduce federal outlays by $352 million below 2010 spending rates. The nonpartisan budget agency also projects that total outlays are actually some $3.3 billion more than in 2010, if emergency spending is included in the total.
(Six-month funding bill queued up for passage)
The astonishing result, according to CBO, is due to several factors: increases in spending included in the deal, especially at the Defense Department; decisions to draw over half of the savings from rescissions, which are funds previously authorized but not spent; cuts to reserve funds; and to mandatory-spending programs, such as certain farm subsidies.
[ For complete coverage of politics and policy, go to Yahoo! Politics ]
National Journal previously reported that after removing rescissions, cuts to reserve funds, and reductions in mandatory-spending programs, discretionary spending would be reduced only by $14.7 billion. CBO's analysis, which takes into account the likelihood that certain authorized funding will never be spent, suggests that the actual cuts will be even smaller.
Some conservatives already opposed the deal for not going far enough to meet the GOP campaign pledges to cut $100 billion. The minimal effect on current government spending, however, could improve macroeconomic forecasts that predicted lower economic growth if government spending was drastically reduced.
"This bill will cut $315 billion in Washington spending over 10 years, $78 billion compared with the President's request this year alone," said Michael Steel, spokesman for House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio. "Democratic spin and arcane budget jargon doesn't change that."
(Obama's speech defines debate: Cut-to-grow vs. "shared prosperity")
The CBO did confirm that budget authority would remain $78.5 billion below what President Obama requested in his fiscal 2011 budget request, and Republicans can point to long-term savings as a result of lowering the government's spending baseline, including some $40 billion from cuts to Pell Grants.
"It is kind of crazy to have come to the brink of shutting down the government over a $350 million difference," said Scott Lilly, a former staff director at the Appropriations Committee under Chairman David Obey, D-Wis.