Regards, Ivan
Posted on 02/05/2007 7:50:51 AM PST by MadIvan
WASHINGTON - President Bush submits a $2.9 trillion spending request today to Capitol Hill that seeks billions of dollars more to fight the Iraq war and tries to restrain the spiraling cost of the government's big health care programs.
Responding to the new political realities of a Democratic-controlled Congress, Bush will propose balancing the budget in five years. Democrats charged that Bush wants to make painful cuts across a wide swath of government programs to protect his tax cuts and to keep funneling money to the unpopular Iraq war.
"It just gives you sticker shock. Every time you turn around it's another $100 billion," Senate Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., said of Bush's war spending.
For the first time, Bush will spell out details of the spending requests for Iraq and Afghanistan in the budget books. Previously, he has lumped that spending into supplemental requests with less detail.
Bush said he would ask for an additional $100 billion for Iraq and the global war on terrorism this year, on top of $70 billion already sought. For 2008, that spending would drop to $145 billion and fall to $50 billion in 2009, although administration officials conceded that the 2008 and 2009 requests could go higher depending on the progress of the war effort.
White House budget director Rob Portman said Sunday that the spending includes the cost of increasing troop strength in Iraq by 21,500, an increase that opponents want Congress to go on record as opposing in upcoming nonbinding resolutions. The administration projects that the troop increase will cost $5.6 billion this year, a figure that critics say is too low.
"We believe the president's plan will be successful," Portman said on CNN. "We're giving Congress exactly what Congress asked for on a bipartisan basis, more transparency as to our costs and more information."
The federal deficit hit an all-time high under Bush of $413 billion in 2004. It has been declining since that time and the 2008 budget projects it will continue to decline and show a surplus in 2012, three years after Bush leaves office.
To accomplish those reductions, Bush would allow only modest growth in the government programs outside of defense and homeland security. He is proposing eliminations or sharp reductions in 141 government programs, for a savings over five years of $12 billion.
Bush also will seek to trim spending on farm subsidies by $18 billion over five years, mainly by reducing payments to wealthier farmers, an effort certain to spark resistance among farm state lawmakers. Bush's budget would achieve nearly $100 billion in savings over five years by trimming increases in Medicare and Medicaid.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
He spends money like a French Socialist.
It will be refreshing when we get a president that acutally looks at one of these budgets and says "WTF is this...cut this...cut that..."
OK...stop laughing....
Two-thirds of it are entitlement payments. The fraction of the budget spent on those expednitures ("non-discretionary" in Washingtonese) is increasing with time.
Bzzzzzzzt!
You have all overbid.
They better watch out... a trillion here and a trillion there and next thing you know we'll be into really big money.
Regards, Ivan
Bush is a worthless sack.
painful cuts across a wide swath of government programs
$12 billion for 141 programs over 5 years? That's $17 million per project per year. I don't even think that hits a round-off error in the federal budget.
"No Dollar Left Behind" budget.
Regards, Ivan
Anyone know what the percent increase is over last year?
I wonder if most people got raises equal to that amount.
(I seriously doubt that).
Good thing we elected a conservative. </sarcasm>
How to cut the budget:
No farm subsidies
No Department of Education
No War on Drugs
No Government healthcare (except for soldiers)
No student loan program
No heating or A/C for the Capitol
"Sure is a good thing a "compassionate" conservative got elected in 2000.
Bush is a worthless sack."
Yeah, I agree. Really sucked that Bush was left with a recession then had to deal with the economic realities of 9/11. Yet despite this, still has managed to reduce the deficit over the last three years, despite spending on all those worthless education and health care programs.
I knew I should have voted for Al Gore. /sarcasm
From another AP article it states this is a 4.9 percent increase in total outlays from last year.
"Bush projects government spending in 2008 of $2.90 trillion, a 4.9 percent increase from the $2.78 trillion in outlays the administration is projecting for this year. However, the administration notes that the 2007 total is only an estimate, given that Congress is still working to complete a massive omnibus spending bill to cover most agencies for the rest of this fiscal year."
4.9 percent; about twice inflation. There is still a myth out there that social conservatives and fiscal conservatives vote Republician. Well the George Bush and Sam Brownback republicans are running the show which means more social restrictions and kitty-bar-the-door for spending. The Republician party is almost as bad as the Democrat party.
Boo on this budget and boo for George Bush. What part of government has George Bush reduced? From what I can tell he's reduced NOTHING!
Also....No pay increases to Congress.
From another AP article it states this is a 4.9 percent increase in total outlays from last year.
"Bush projects government spending in 2008 of $2.90 trillion, a 4.9 percent increase from the $2.78 trillion in outlays the administration is projecting for this year. However, the administration notes that the 2007 total is only an estimate, given that Congress is still working to complete a massive omnibus spending bill to cover most agencies for the rest of this fiscal year."
4.9 percent; about twice inflation. There is still a myth out there that social conservatives and fiscal conservatives vote Republician. Well the George Bush and Sam Brownback republicans are running the show which means more social restrictions and kitty-bar-the-door for spending. The Republician party is almost as bad as the Democrat party.
Boo on this budget and boo for George Bush. What part of government has George Bush reduced? From what I can tell he's reduced NOTHING!
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