Free Republic

Speaker Corey Johnson and seven other City Council leaders firmly embraced the “Defund Police” movement Friday, calling for $1 billion in cuts to the NYPD’s $6 billion budget. “We believe that we can and should work to get to $1 billion in cuts to New York City’s police spending in the Fiscal 2021 budget, an unprecedented reduction that would not only limit the scope of the NYPD, but also show our commitment towards moving away from the failed policing policies of the past,” Johnson (D-Manhattan) announced late Friday. He was joined by Majority Leader Laurie Cumbo (D-Brooklyn), Democratic Conference Chair...

The White House will increase its proposed cut to the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget when it releases its spending outline on Thursday, according to a new report. The Trump administration will propose a 31 percent cut to the EPA’s $8.1 billion budget when it releases its budget outline, the New York Times reports . That's higher than the 24 percent reduction the White House proposed in its earliest budget outlines. The proposal will be part of a budget draft that contains deep spending cuts to many federal domestic spending accounts. The White House is aiming to reduce domestic discretionary spending...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Budget cuts at the IRS could delay tax refunds, reduce taxpayer services and hurt enforcement efforts, IRS Commissioner John Koskinen said Thursday. About half the people who call the IRS for assistance this filing season won't be able to get through to a person, Koskinen said. Once tax returns are filed, there will be fewer agents to audit them. "Everybody's return will get processed," Koskinen told reporters. "But people have gotten very used to being able to file their return and quickly getting a refund. This year we may not have the resources, the people to provide...

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), now up for reauthorization, is in major need of revision. Its billion-dollar-a-year price tag spent by the radical feminists to pursue their ideology and goals (known as feminist pork) make it an embarrassment to members of Congress who voted for it. For 30 years, the feminists have been pretending that their goal is to abolish all sex discrimination, eliminating all gender differences no matter how reasonable. When it comes to domestic violence, however, feminist dogma preaches that there is an innate gender difference: Men are naturally batterers, and women are naturally victims (i.e., gender...

Sacramento area teachers brace for thousands of pink slips dlambert@sacbee.com Published Sunday, Feb. 28, 2010 Sacramento teachers and other school employees are bracing themselves for thousands of pink slips. Unlike previous years when many layoff notices were rescinded, school officials say more of those employees will likely lose their jobs this year. "It's heartbreaking," said Steven Ladd, Elk Grove Unified School District superintendent, whose district is expected to send out more than 1,000 pink slips. Ladd and other administrators say layoffs this year probably can't be avoided. Years of intense budget cutting have left districts so lean that salaries are...

We must arm ourselves for a class war The recession has increased the wealth gap to dangerous levels, and George Osborne does not seem serious about tackling it, says Edmund Conway. By Edmund Conway Published: 6:40AM GMT 25 Feb 2010 /snip All the same, Osborne is terrified of imposing such deep and painful cuts. He privately despairs that he will end up as the most unpopular politician in modern history. Which helps explain his plan, spelt out last night, to set up a three-man Office for Budget Responsibility to advise him on how far to cut spending. The hope is...

Hawaii can't afford Congressional election By MARK NIESSE Associated Press Writer updated 5:25 p.m. ET Jan. 9, 2010 HONOLULU - Cash-strapped Hawaii can't afford to pay for an election to replace a congressman who is planning to step down next month to run for governor, potentially leaving 600,000 urban Honolulu residents without representation in Washington. Budget cuts have left the state Office of Elections with about $5,000 to last until July, with a special election costing nearly $1 million, interim Chief Elections Officer Scott Nago said. Until the state finds money or this fall's regularly scheduled elections occur, one of...

How can Barack Obama demonstrate his fiscal-responsibility creds after pushing through Porkulus, a pork-filled omnibus spending plan, and a $3.5 trillion budget that far outstrips even the last spending plan from the Democratic-controlled Congress? Demand a big reduction in spending through budget cuts at federal agencies. Obama has done just that — with cuts that amount to a whopping 0.0029% of the budget Obama just pushed Congress to provide him: President Obama plans to convene his Cabinet for the first time today, where he will order members to identify a combined $100 million in budget cuts over the next 90...

University of Florida's president 'convinced' big state budget cuts coming By Nathan Crabbe Staff writer Published: Friday, April 17, 2009 at 6:30 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, April 17, 2009 at 12:32 a.m. The University of Florida released a worst-case budget plan Thursday that includes options such as hundreds of layoffs, the elimination of 10 academic and student-support programs, and a four-day workweek in the summer. The options amount to more than $108 million in possible cuts, providing a menu of possibilities for UF to consider when the state budget is completed. UF President Bernie Machen said he expects to present...

Man Bites Dog by: Malcolm A. Kline, February 22, 2008 Believe it or not, in the Dominion state, a Democratic governor is trying to cut education spending while Republicans in the state assembly fight those cuts. “In response to Governor Kaine’s proposal to address the $2 billion budget shortfall between fiscal years 2008 and 2010 by eliminating over $220 million in dedicated General Fund support for local school divisions, House Republican members of the conference committee on the state budget expressed deep concern over the negative impact on the Governor’s proposed cuts,” read a Valentine’s Day press release from Virginia...

President Bush unfurled his 2,300-page, $2.57 trillion budget proposal--the largest federal budget in history--on Monday morning, in a press availability with reporters, and at some point someone asked him what he thought about the document. "It is a budget that sets priorities," the president said, before adding, "it's a budget that focuses on results." Less than 24 hours later, however, the Washington press corps, no doubt after reading all the budget's 2,300 pages, and no doubt after digesting the various expenditure tables and deficit projections and other fiscal gobbledygook included therein, reached a very, very different conclusion. Namely: The 2006...

Community colleges say budget-cut order could be devastating AUSTIN (AP) — No summer classes. Professors and staff laid off. Higher tuition costs or taxes. The state's community colleges say those are the potential consequences of the 7 percent state budget cut ordered by Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Tom Craddick. The Republicans last week demanded $700 million in cuts to help Texas close a projected $1.8 billion shortfall for fiscal year 2003. Perry and Craddick say education is their top priority. "It is because without an educated work force, we can't attract industry," Craddick said...

<p>Sen. Zell Miller, Georgia Democrat, says he is in favor of tax cuts, but it is also time to put the federal government on a diet.</p> <p>"We now have the biggest, most expensive federal government in history. Federal employees are thicker than maggots on a rotting carcass. So, why not start by abolishing vacant positions in every department except Defense and Homeland Security?" Mr. Miller writes in an opinion piece in the Wall Street Journal.</p>

Press and Policy > Events and Speeches Address to the Commonwealth on Additional Budget Reductions (Oct. 15, 2002) View Summary Report on Budget Reductions (pdf, 208 Kb) View archived Webcast of this speech Speech sections: IntroductionBudget IntroductionEarly Budget CutsMore Reductions NeededDecisions on Spending Cuts Start at the TopImprove EfficiencyPreserving Services to PeopleEffect on Vital ServicesMore Targeted ReductionsConclusion Introduction    back to top Good Evening.Before I begin my remarks about our budget, I must address a more immediate reality. For the past thirteen days, the series of random sniper attacks in and around Virginia has made us all concerned about...