Posted on 04/01/2011 6:39:23 AM PDT by St. Louis Conservative
House Republican leaders and the White House are nearing a deal to finally close the books on the 2011 budget—six months into the fiscal year. The White House says it will accept spending cuts of $33 billion, compared to the $62 billion the House passed earlier this year. If House Speaker John Boehner can bring that number closer to $40 billion, so much the better.
We share the desire of new Members in Congress who want deeper reductions. But Republicans don't hold the Senate or the White House, and even cuts of this magnitude are bigger than anyone could have expected last December. Republicans and tea partiers should pocket the victory and move on to the bigger fights over the 2012 budget and debt ceiling.
The fact that Congress is cutting any spending from the $3.6 trillion budget is a big cultural shift in Washington and an important course correction. In 2008, domestic discretionary spending rose by roughly 8%. The budget for federal agencies then expanded another 24% over 2009 and 2010, not including the $270 billion of stimulus funds for these programs. By contrast, the $10 billion in cuts that Republicans have already won for fiscal 2011 will reduce spending by roughly 1%, and 3% if a $33 billion compromise becomes law.
This has accomplished two valuable goals. First, Republicans have succeeded in preventing the stimulus funding in 2009 and 2010 for discretionary programs from becoming a permanent part of the federal baseline of spending, which was a major goal of unions and liberal Democrats.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Winning? The Republican idea of winning is not letting the Marxist Democrats have all of what they wanted?
Now lets move onto hearings for the 2012 budget. That's where larger cuts will take place.
It is very difficult to see progress when the deficit for this current fiscal year is $1,700,000,000,000 and they MIGHT cut that by $40,000,000,000 (that’s less than a 2% cut of the DEFICIT). Elections can’t come soon enough to kick out even more DIMs and their RINO friends. These congresscritters hate you and your children.
Well, it IS April Fool’s day...
but I’ll take ANY cuts we can get now. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and we can’t demolish it in a day either unless we want to just nuke it and have nothing left.
it is very clear that the Dem tactic is to put the 2011 budget to rest any way they can and move on to the fight over the 2012 budget. It will buy them time to try and gin-up the same kind of huge anti-cut protests they’ve been having in the UK.
The top of my wish list is this:
The President comes out as says: “By Executive Order, all federal agencies with the exception of the branches of the military and Social Security have 10% less to spend tomorrow than they do today. If the heads of those agencies cannot keep benefit and service levels at their current level or better, they will be replaced by people who can. The expected productivity and efficiency gains are realistic and expected. Fail to fulfill those expectations and you will lose your job. Have a nice day.”
Does anyone actually know where all of the increases in the budget came from and what the inteneded increases are for? I know that I do not have a clear understanding of the increases - does anyone know of a simple chart that shows the increases by category?
Actually, it was the Dem tactic to NOT pass this budget last year during the last Congress so they could use it to split the GOP this year.
The last thing the Dems want to do is move on; the next few months of hearings over the 2012 budget will give the GOP a much better opportunity of making much larger cuts.
The WSJ is totally wrong on this..if the GOP can’t win this little skirmish, fresh off the HUGE 2010 win, then how can we expect them to win the BIG ones..
OK great. The ‘Republicans’ are winning! Big effing deal!!! The AMERICANS are getting screwed!!!
I agree....if this years budget is less than or equal to the amount of dollars spent last year, then we have achieved a first year victory...not adjusted dollars, raw dollars...
This is true. It's the 2012 budget where TEA philosophy will prevail. Let's move on to step two.
You are absolutely correct. Thank you.
I'm ready for a gummint shutdown, but I'd rather see them wait until the battle is enjoined over the 2012 budget, which will be the first real Republican budget.
Ryan said yesterday on Hannity's radio show, that the 2012 budget will exceed $5 trillion over 10 years, that is a $500 BILLION average cut per year.
That is something worth fighting for, keep your powder dry.
And (as usual) the taxpayer is losing.
Jeez, the Left figured this out years ago---it's straight out of Alinsky: you get what you can, then come back and say it's not enough.
Wake up! We are in free fall. Nothing less than brutal cuts will come anywhere near saving us.
We aren’t in the 1980’s anymore.
You freakin’ wake up. This is EXACTLY how we got in this “free fall,” a little at a time and you defeat these guys, one step at a time. You will never get a massive slash and burn-—but if you’re smart (as the libs have been) you get some, then you get some more, then you get some more . . . .
“The WSJ is totally wrong on this..if the GOP can’t win this little skirmish, fresh off the HUGE 2010 win, then how can we expect them to win the BIG ones?”
We have a winner! The question of the month. Sadly the answer is “They won’t”
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