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Obama To Propose Freeze On Federal Spending
According to two senior admininstration officials, President Obama will announce in his State of the Union Address that he wants to freeze all non-discretionary federal spending for three years.
The proposed freeze, which could help position Obama in the political center by sharpening his credentials on fiscal discipline, would reduce the deficit by $250 billion dollars. Programs exempt include budgets of the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs, along with some international programs.
"We are at war, and we're going to make sure our troops are funded adequately," one of the senior officials said.
The officials refused to say which areas would be affected; however, they did state that within their departments, officials could elect to shift money around, adding to some while reducing others.
One of the areas the President could choose to cut is Medicare. However, the officials stated that Obama would prefer to start other places first.
Under the proposal, which would need to be approved by both houses of Congress, all federal discretionary spending would be frozen at its current level of $447 billion per year. The proposal has already drawn fire on both sides of the aisle.
The plan could force the hand of Republicans, who have criticized President Obama on spending issues. span>
Immediate Republican reaction was split, with some senior GOP aides saying the freeze is something they could support, while others said it did not go nearly far enough.
"Given Washington Democrats' unprecedented spending binge, this is like announcing you're going on a diet after winning a pie-eating contest," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. "Will the budget still double the debt over five years and triple it over 10? That's the bottom line."
The senior administration officials acknowledged that discretionary spending is only about one-sixth of the entire federal budget, and that much larger savings would come from cutting entitlement programs like Medicare, but the White House believes that cuts need to start somewhere.
"We're not here to tell you we've solved the deficit," said one of the senior officials, adding that the federal government has to go through the "very same process that families" across America have had to go through in their personal budgets.
The move will also spark a major debate within the president's own party, with senior Democrats already saying the cuts would be tough to swallow. A senior Senate Democratic aide said it will prompt a major fight after the Bush administration "underfunded domestic programs for so long."
"Why would we want to play into the Republicans' hands like this?" the senior Senate Democratic aide asked.
But it could also help Obama break ranks with an unpopular Democratic Congress. "Do I expect this to win us a lot of kudos on Capitol Hill? No," one of the senior administration officials said.
https://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/25/obama.spending.freeze/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn
The proposed freeze, which could help position Obama in the political center by sharpening his credentials on fiscal discipline, would reduce the deficit by $250 billion dollars. Programs exempt include budgets of the Departments of Defense, Homeland Security, and Veterans Affairs, along with some international programs.
"We are at war, and we're going to make sure our troops are funded adequately," one of the senior officials said.
The officials refused to say which areas would be affected; however, they did state that within their departments, officials could elect to shift money around, adding to some while reducing others.
One of the areas the President could choose to cut is Medicare. However, the officials stated that Obama would prefer to start other places first.
Under the proposal, which would need to be approved by both houses of Congress, all federal discretionary spending would be frozen at its current level of $447 billion per year. The proposal has already drawn fire on both sides of the aisle.
The plan could force the hand of Republicans, who have criticized President Obama on spending issues. span>
Immediate Republican reaction was split, with some senior GOP aides saying the freeze is something they could support, while others said it did not go nearly far enough.
"Given Washington Democrats' unprecedented spending binge, this is like announcing you're going on a diet after winning a pie-eating contest," said Michael Steel, a spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio. "Will the budget still double the debt over five years and triple it over 10? That's the bottom line."
The senior administration officials acknowledged that discretionary spending is only about one-sixth of the entire federal budget, and that much larger savings would come from cutting entitlement programs like Medicare, but the White House believes that cuts need to start somewhere.
"We're not here to tell you we've solved the deficit," said one of the senior officials, adding that the federal government has to go through the "very same process that families" across America have had to go through in their personal budgets.
The move will also spark a major debate within the president's own party, with senior Democrats already saying the cuts would be tough to swallow. A senior Senate Democratic aide said it will prompt a major fight after the Bush administration "underfunded domestic programs for so long."
"Why would we want to play into the Republicans' hands like this?" the senior Senate Democratic aide asked.
But it could also help Obama break ranks with an unpopular Democratic Congress. "Do I expect this to win us a lot of kudos on Capitol Hill? No," one of the senior administration officials said.
https://www.cnn.com/2010/POLITICS/01/25/obama.spending.freeze/index.html?eref=igoogle_cnn