All politicians do and say the same thing. When cities want levies to pass, they will shut down a fire station. (happened here not too long ago. Then when city council was successful in getting tax hikes - wham! They opened it back up. One year, they shut off bus service for high school students in order to get a levy passed. Seems the schools just keep coming back to the well until its dry. Much of the funds go for administrative costs, and not for the kiddies.
Its a tried and true tactic.
Spend lots of time talking about cutting the big politically sensitive things that are least likely to be cut. In the mean time, billions can continue to flow into a million small things than no one will miss if they were gone.