Dave Ahearn, a reporter for Space and Missile Defense Report, purchases an embargoed release of the 2010 Federal Budget Appendix at the Government Printing Office in Washington Thursday.
(Jonathan Ernst/REUTERS)Photos (1 of 1)
Obama’s budget whacks 121 programs
In a $3.5 trillion spending plan released Thursday, the White House proposes $17 billion in cuts – including some items that President Bush also tried to ax.
By Peter Grier | Staff writer/ May 7, 2009 edition
Reporter Peter Grier talks with CSMonitor.com's Pat Murphy about President Obama's proposed budget cuts and where the budget process goes from here.
Reporter Peter Grier
Washington
It’s good that President Obama is trying to wring waste out of the US budget, say deficit hawks. But the $17 billion in cuts proposed by the administration on Thursday are small change in the context of $3.5 trillion in annual federal spending.
Plus, Obama’s hit list leaves unaddressed what many experts cite as the real US deficit difficulty: fast-growing entitlements, particularly the big health programs Medicare and Medicaid.
“I have a little bit of concern that by making a big deal out of these program cuts [Obama] doesn’t prepare the public for the really tough choices we need to make in the years ahead,” says Robert Bixby, executive director of the Concord Coalition, a group that promotes deficit-reduction.
Obama outlined his recommended $17 billion in savings at a time when he is attempting to rally the nation behind his economic policies and convince both voters and markets that he will be fiscally prudent in years to come.
On the chopping block
The 121 programs on his cut list ranged from the C-17 airlifter to early education efforts to federal programs that pay for the cleanup of abandoned mines.
The thread that connects all the targeted programs is that they no longer work, said administration officials. They are either outmoded, duplicated by other government efforts, or simply unnecessary.
“What we’re trying to do is reorient government activity toward things that work,” said Peter Orszag, director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), during a conference call with reporters.
Obama’s budget proposes spending $3.55 trillion in the fiscal year beginning in October. The fiscal 2010 deficit will be $1.17 trillion, the budget estimates, down from an estimated $1.75 trillion for the current fiscal year.
About half of the of the dollar value of the proposed $17 billion in savings would come from defense. Obama’s budget, for instance, would terminate a new long-range bomber slated for deployment in 2018. It would eliminate $465 billion earmarked for development of an alternative engine for the new Joint Strike Fighter (JSF).
Domestic cuts would include Loran-C, a long-range radio navigation system made obsolete by Global Positioning System receivers. Obama recommends eliminating a Department of Education attaché based in Paris, and he calls for a halt in payments to states for environmental work in abandoned mines that already have been cleaned up.
The White House is proposing to save $10 million by doing away with the Brownfields Economic Development Initiative, a Department of Housing and Urban Development program, because “local governments have access to other public and private funds that can address the same purposes,” according to an OMB analysis.
It also wants to eliminate the early childhood education program Even Start, because “three national evaluations show the program is not effective,” according to OMB.
If at first you don’t succeed….
In general, the Obama administration appears to have gone after what might be called low-hanging fruit, say budget experts.
“In the program terminations there is nothing terribly surprising,” says James Horney, director of federal fiscal policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. “Their arguments seem to make sense.”
In some cases, they are arguments that have been made before, to no avail.
President Bush tried for years to zero out the JSF alternative engine, for instance, only to see it added back every time by members of Congress eager to protect jobs in their districts.
Obama’s willingness to try again to eliminate the alternative engine is “welcome,” said Tom Schatz, president of Citizens Against Government Waste, in a statement. But “it will be a tough nut to crack,” he said.
Many Republican lawmakers noted that Obama’s list of proposed cuts contained some items targeted in the past by Mr. Bush.
“While we appreciate the newfound attention to saving taxpayer dollars from this administration, we respectfully [suggest] that we should do far more,” said House minority leader John Boehner (R) of Ohio.
New priorities, not less spending
It’s important to note that Obama’s cuts, if implemented, would not actually reduce government spending. The cash would be shifted to areas the administration rates as higher priorities.
Nor are extra jet engines and early education efforts the kinds of programs that “got the budget off track,” says Mr. Bixby of the Concord Coalition. “In a certain sense, these types of things are a distraction,” says Bixby, talking of the administration’s promotion of its proposed cuts.
The looming explosion of costs in entitlements, driven by healthcare inflation and the retirement of the baby boomers, is the real problem, he says.
That is something Obama officials say they fully recognize. Budget chief Orszag is an expert in healthcare costs and has long carried out something of a personal crusade to try to get Washington to bring them under control.
Seventeen billion dollars in proposed reductions is “real money,” said Orszag, adding, “This is an important first step but not the end of the process.”
Comments
2. Steve | 05.07.09
I think that’s $465 million for the JSF engine - not billion as stated in the article.
3. Regulas | 05.07.09
Cuts 17B is a freaking joke. Now if his budget was less than last years budget it would be a cut. They (the politicians and news media who think Oboma is the second coming) must think we are all idiots. What am I thinking, a vast number of voters are idiots, how else did this marxist non US citizen got to be our President. Thats right he still will not release his birth certificate, that’s because it is not from the USA.
4. Ronaldo | 05.07.09
An interesting view in that those who are whining about the deficit, also feel free to complain when the President cuts programs that don’t work, or are no longer necessary. Never mind that he did it, it’s not enough. Low hanging fruit indeed. Let’s see he’s been in a 102 days, and he’s done more than the old administration regarding this issue. Not to mention he inherited a pretty big mess. I’d say that it’s pretty apparent that the Party of NO doesn’t give one whit about America, but only about the phylosophy of NO, completely. You’ve got to admit it’s a shame.
5. Vincent Yakubanski | 05.07.09
What a weak bunch of ****! cut 121 programs for a few billion $$ whe the knucklehead is setting us up to spend $3.4 Brazillion. This is shear “NUTS”! This guy would of never done what he is doing if he ever had a real job and ran a business.
6. Dan | 05.07.09
It would be interesting to know how much money is spent on health care programs for those OVER the age of 65 vs. those under the age of 65. And a similar breakdown of cost for those under the age of 18, and over the age of 18. (and of course, the cost of healthcare for those between the ages of 18 and 65. I suspect we are spending a lot of money on the WRONG PEOPLE.
I Think this government should take care of it’s youth as well as it’s elderly….NOT EVERYONE IN BETWEEN!
7. christiantiger | 05.07.09
Would it be extremely difficult to actually list the programs that are being reduced, “cut”? I am not overly interested in the “range” but I would like to have a list of what is being cut.
8. Thomas | 05.07.09
Indeed, I don’t recall hearing from the GOP when Bush ran the deficit up to records heights. Come on Repubs, let’s hear the party line - tow it baby, tow it.
Get your catch phrases lined up courtesy of Hannity and Rush. Do any of you have an original thought?
One day the average citizen who subscribes passionately to either party will realize there’s but one thing both parties have in common - they don’t give a lick about you.
9. richard potter | 05.07.09
The Even Start program cuts made by the Administration counter the generations of minority children helped under the Head Start program and early education. I am amazed that the president would consider cutting a program that has benefited black, hispanic, and other minorities.
10. rogers | 05.07.09
This is nothing but window dressing, something for folks who voted for him, to say gee isn’t this just great, when indeed it really isn’t beneath the surface.
11. John Reavill | 05.07.09
I am not surprised that President Obama has proposed defense cuts. I expected that he would cut more from defense programs because of his beliefs. We must remember that as a child he attended schools where the United States was considered the great Satan. Therefore, he apologizes for everything this country has accomplished. I really feel sorry that he has not learned how to be an American.
12. ishmaeldaro | 05.07.09
To those who continue to claim Obama has not released his birth certificate, surely you must know that it has been released. It was done so during the campaign after persistent false rumours about his birth.
http://www.politifact.com/media/img/graphics/birthCertObama.jpg
15. Sue | 05.07.09
I am intrigued by how different people interpret and process the information in the article. As a healthcare provider, experiencing, in real time, the collapse of the entire healthcare and entitlement programs, I take notice when the emphasis from Washington is on theseissues. Your article made this point.
It scares me that Americans do not recognize that if we are an unwell nation, not much else matters.
16. dom youngross | 05.07.09
The Washington Post article actually came out and stated the obvious:
“The proposed [$17 billion in] cuts, if adopted by Congress, would not actually reduce government spending. Obama’s budget would increase overall spending; any savings from the program terminations and reductions would be shifted to the president’s priorities.”
And yet one of Obama the Clown’s priorities is to improve education. If someone can’t recognize the difference between #### and shinola on their own steam, no amount of ‘improved education’ will help them to.
So how is O the Clown going to ‘reduce’ or even ‘halve’ the annual deficit? Not by cutting spending. Just like his repukican predecessors, Obama is hoping against hope that the economy booms, such that the tax base from which tax revenues are extracted grows ‘faster’ than his rate of increased spending. And as every clown supporter knows, if you additionally increase tax rates, tax revenues increase as well.
17. Ken | 05.18.09
The current status of GPS constellation replenishment as well as GNSS vulnerabilities to disruption presents a potential threat to U.S. PNT which would substantially exceed any proposed savings from termination of LORAN. LORAN has been unanimously acknowledged as the only and best existing system able to serve as a backup to GPS. A single day’s disruption to PNT services would cost more than the entire savings envisioned by the administration. LORAN is a critical national asset that ensures Precision Navigation and Timing services in the event of any slip to GPS launches, on-orbit failures or GNSS disruption.
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1. Bryce | 05.07.09
These cuts by the Obama administration represent a 0.5% cut–not nearly enough. What Obama needs to cut is his socialized medicine plan that the American people have already rejected before. That alone would save more than all the rest of his “cuts”. The article was also very telling in that it would not actually reduce spending but would simply reallocate it. Reallocation is fine, but it should be up-front–not distorted into lies about reducing budget.