Republican budget plan envisions sharp cuts

A couple walks the grounds of the U.S. Capitol Building as snow falls in Washington, January 30, 2010.

Credit: Reuters/Jason Reed

WASHINGTON | Tue Apr 5, 2011 8:50am EDT

WASHINGTON | Tue Apr 5, 2011 8:50am EDT

(Reuters) - Government spending would plummet by nearly $6 trillion over the coming decade under a Republican plan due to be unveiled on Tuesday, in a sharp contrast to President Barack Obama's fiscal plan.

The plan, crafted by House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, envisions a total spending cut of $5.8 trillion over the coming decade, according to an aide.

That's well beyond the $4 trillion in savings envisioned by an Obama task force last year, and roughly six times the savings that Obama's own budget plan would generate.

Ryan's plan, which would take effect when the next fiscal year starts on October 1, is expected to propose sweeping changes to the Medicare and Medicaid health programs, as well as hard caps on government spending and tax cuts.

Though it is likely to win the support of the Republican-controlled House, it is not expected to get much support in the Democratic-controlled Senate.

Still, it will probably push a debate over government spending that has dominated Washington this year well into the 2012 election season, when both Obama and many of his Republican adversaries will face voters.

(Reporting by Andy Sullivan; editing by Eric Beech)

Take a trip to RepubliCorps LaLaLand

The Republicans have a savings plan. Gut the Nation's Personality

Posted: 20 Jan 2011 01:12 PM PST

by: Daniel Becker

Well, the repubs finally have put up.  They have a $2.5 trillion, ten year savings plan.  No, don't worry.  You will be kept safe as all national security is untouched.  However, you can expect to wake up the next day from passage in a nation with an completely different personality.  As in 180 degree different.

Here is the overview provided by the Republican Study Committee:


FY 2011 CR Amendment: Replace the spending levels in the FY 2011 continuing resolution (NYSE: CR - News) with non-defense, non-homeland security, non-veterans spending at FY 2008 levels. The legislation will further prohibit any FY 2011 funding from being used to carry out any provision of the Democrat government takeover of health care, or to defend the health care law against any lawsuit challenging any provision of the act. $80 billion savings.

Discretionary Spending Limit, FY 2012-2021: Eliminate automatic increases for inflation from CBO baseline projections for future discretionary appropriations. Further, impose discretionary spending limits through 2021 at 2006 levels on the non-defense portion of the discretionary budget. $2.29 trillion savings over ten years.

Federal Workforce Reforms: Eliminate automatic pay increases for civilian federal workers for five years. Additionally, cut the civilian workforce by a total of 15 percent through attrition. Allow the hiring of only one new worker for every two workers who leave federal employment until the reduction target has been met. (Savings included in above discretionary savings figure).

"Stimulus" Repeal: Eliminate all remaining "stimulus" funding. $45 billion total savings.

Eliminate federal control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. $30 billion total savings.

Repeal the Medicaid FMAP increase in the "State Bailout" (Senate amendments to S. 1586). $16.1 billion total savings.

The 100 item list is below

Some of the items, cutting them, you just have to ask: How are they going to get the job done?  Like cutting by 20% the federal vehicle budget or cut in half the congressional printing and binding budget?  What, we're going to suddenly seen legislation that is only 1/2 the size of pages?  I'm sorry folks, but this list is nothing but an ideological hit list.  There is not thought at all regarding intergration as it relates to investing in this country or even governing.  Can you say: New York snow storm clearing disaster?

Here is the full list of cuts:

Additional Program Eliminations/Spending Reforms

Corporation for Public Broadcasting Subsidy. $445 million annual savings.
Save America's Treasures Program. $25 million annual savings.
International Fund for Ireland. $17 million annual savings.
Legal Services Corporation. $420 million annual savings.
National Endowment for the Arts. $167.5 million annual savings.
National Endowment for the Humanities. $167.5 million annual savings.
Hope VI Program. $250 million annual savings.
Amtrak Subsidies. $1.565 billion annual savings.
Eliminate duplicative education programs. H.R. 2274 (in last Congress), authored by Rep. McKeon, eliminates 68 at a savings of $1.3 billion annually.
U.S. Trade Development Agency. $55 million annual savings.
Woodrow Wilson Center Subsidy. $20 million annual savings.
Cut in half funding for congressional printing and binding. $47 million annual savings.
John C. Stennis Center Subsidy. $430,000 annual savings.
Community Development Fund. $4.5 billion annual savings.
Heritage Area Grants and Statutory Aid. $24 million annual savings.
Cut Federal Travel Budget in Half. $7.5 billion annual savings.
Trim Federal Vehicle Budget by 20%. $600 million annual savings.
Essential Air Service. $150 million annual savings.
Technology Innovation Program. $70 million annual savings.
Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) Program. $125 million annual savings.
Department of Energy Grants to States for Weatherization. $530 million annual savings.
Beach Replenishment. $95 million annual savings.
New Starts Transit. $2 billion annual savings.
Exchange Programs for Alaska, Natives Native Hawaiians, and Their Historical Trading Partners in Massachusetts. $9 million annual savings.
Intercity and High Speed Rail Grants. $2.5 billion annual savings.
Title X Family Planning. $318 million annual savings.
Appalachian Regional Commission. $76 million annual savings.
Economic Development Administration. $293 million annual savings.
Programs under the National and Community Services Act. $1.15 billion annual savings.
Applied Research at Department of Energy. $1.27 billion annual savings.
FreedomCAR and Fuel Partnership. $200 million annual savings.
Energy Star Program. $52 million annual savings.
Economic Assistance to Egypt. $250 million annually.
U.S. Agency for International Development. $1.39 billion annual savings.
General Assistance to District of Columbia. $210 million annual savings.
Subsidy for Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. $150 million annual savings.
Presidential Campaign Fund. $775 million savings over ten years.
No funding for federal office space acquisition. $864 million annual savings.
End prohibitions on competitive sourcing of government services.
Repeal the Davis-Bacon Act. More than $1 billion annually.
IRS Direct Deposit: Require the IRS to deposit fees for some services it offers (such as processing payment plans for taxpayers) to the Treasury, instead of allowing it to remain as part of its budget. $1.8 billion savings over ten years.
Require collection of unpaid taxes by federal employees. $1 billion total savings.
Prohibit taxpayer funded union activities by federal employees. $1.2 billion savings over ten years.
Sell excess federal properties the government does not make use of. $15 billion total savings.
Eliminate death gratuity for Members of Congress.
Eliminate Mohair Subsidies. $1 million annual savings.
Eliminate taxpayer subsidies to the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. $12.5 million annual savings.
Eliminate Market Access Program. $200 million annual savings.
USDA Sugar Program. $14 million annual savings.
Subsidy to Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). $93 million annual savings.
Eliminate the National Organic Certification Cost-Share Program. $56.2 million annual savings.
Eliminate fund for Obamacare administrative costs. $900 million savings.
Ready to Learn TV Program. $27 million savings.
HUD Ph.D. Program.
Deficit Reduction Check-Off Act.

TOTAL SAVINGS: $2.5 Trillion over Ten Years

 cartoon at http://politicalgraffiti.wordpress.com/

Wrap your head around THESE US BUDGET statistics!

Here’s What America Really Spends on Security

by Christopher Hellman

Back in February 2006, the Bush administration requested, and Congress later approved, roughly $463 billion in funding for the Defense Department. But when it comes to what American taxpayers really spend on national security, this is just the tip of the iceberg. All told, the United States spent nearly $1 trillion on security in fiscal year 2007, which ended on September 30.

In addition to the money allocated to the Pentagon each year as part of the Defense Department’s “base budget,” hundreds of billions of dollars are spent on other federal programs that are a direct result of the United States supporting and maintaining its military.

For example, the United States spent $173 billion last year on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and other costs the Pentagon says are related to the “Global War on Terror.” According to the Congressional Research Service, $166 billion went to the Pentagon, $6 billion went to the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development, and $1 billion went to the Veterans’ Administration. So far this year, the White House has requested $196 billion for similar war-related expenses.

The government also spent $43 billion on homeland security, not including $17 billion funded through the Defense Department budget. The additional money went through a number of other federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security ($29 billion), the Department of Health and Human Services ($4.3 billion), and the Justice Department ($3.1 billion). Homeland security funding is one of the fastest growing areas of federal spending, quadrupling since the attacks of September 11, 2001.

The White House further revealed that it spent $43 billion on intelligence-related activities last year. This announcement, the result of legislation passed by Congress in 2006, was the first time in a decade the government had officially released this figure. Roughly, 80 percent is thought to be funded through the Pentagon’s annual budget, leaving an estimated $8 billion in additional intelligence spending.

Veterans’ benefits accounted for $73 billion in federal spending last year to provide for those who’ve served their country in the past. Of this, $30 billion was for hospital and medical care and $42 billion for disability pensions and the G.I. education program. According to a recent analysis by the Congressional Budget Office, the cost of caring for veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars could add $13 billion or more annually to this total.

And the list goes on. According to the White House, the government paid $433 billion in interest on the national debt, and a conservative estimate puts the cost of past military spending attributable to this debt at $99 billion annually.

The government paid $44 billion in pension benefits for retired military personnel. It also provided $55 billion for pay and benefits for civilian employees of the Defense Department (DoD), and a further $22 billion in pensions for Pentagon retirees.

The State Department provided almost $5 billion in military aid to foreign countries, and over $1 billion for international peacekeeping operations. It provided a further $420 million for such things as countering the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, combating terrorism, and clearing landmines. The military’s space program accounted for roughly 20 percent of NASA’s budget, or $3 billion.

In all, the United States spent an estimated $990 billion last year on defense and other security-related activities. And even THIS figure is incomplete. It doesn’t include, for instance, pay and benefits for non-DoD federal employees working on security issues for the Department of Homeland Security, State Department, or Department of Justice or Treasury. Nor does it include interest payments on past debt from paying veterans’ benefits or retirees’ pensions. It doesn’t include the majority of the State Department’s operating budget, although we must assume that at least some of our government’s diplomatic initiatives are directed at promoting U.S. security.

Last year the total federal budget was roughly $2.8 trillion dollars. Former Senator Everett Dirksen is often credited with saying, regarding government spending, that

“a billion here and a billion there, and soon you’re talking real money.”

Well, in a $2.8 trillion annual budget, $1 trillion in security spending IS real money.

Christopher Hellman is a Military Policy Fellow at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation in Washington, D.C.

Your tax dollars at WORK!!

A statement released by Senate Democrats said that under Bush's

watch, federal spending has increased 50 percent to $2.78 trillion

since 2001; the $236 billion surplus he inherited has been turned

into the three largest deficits in U.S. history; and national debt has

risen $3 trillion to $8.9 trillion.

"After running up $3 trillion in new debt -- including

more than half a trillion dollars for his flawed Iraq

policy -- it is astounding that the president is once again

lecturing Congress about fiscal responsibility," said

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nevada.

"Democrats are investing in the priorities of America's

middle class families, veterans and children, and are

dedicated to fighting terror more effectively; President

Bush wants to continue investing only in Iraq."

He's at it again!! BuZh on proposals to cough up some money for CITIZENS.

And watching his oral belligerance yet ANOTHER TIME is sick making.

And I am not as charitable as to call his remarks ironic, I call him a LIAR.
Just listen as he trips up on the phrase social security ... he's figured out he has to have every last nickel!!

Bush: We Can’t Spend $22 Billion On America Because We Need $200 Billion For Iraq War

The Democratic leadership in Congress is set to pass a host of domestic funding bills that would exceed Bush’s request by $22 billion. The extra funding would help go towards veterans health care, infrastructure improvements, education, and other domestic priorities.

Speaking to business leaders at a White House event this morning, Bush railed against the relatively modest increase in spending, arguing that $22 billion is “a lot of money”:

Some in Congress will tell you that $22 billion is not a lot of money. As business leaders, you know better. As a matter of fact, $22 billion is larger than the annual revenues of most Fortune 500 companies. The $22 billion is only for the first year. With every passing year the number gets bigger and bigger, and so over the next five years the increase in federal spending would add up to $205 billion.

Watch it:

Bush warned that spending increases, which could add up to over $200 billion over five years, would be “taking money out of the pocket” of Americans who need to “pay their mortgages or pay for their children going to college.” Unfortunately, Bush failed to appreciate the irony in his remarks.

While complaining of modest spending increases on much-needed domestic funding priorities, Bush is far less concerned about the impact of spending $200 billion in the next year alone on a disastrous war in Iraq:

President Bush plans to ask lawmakers next week to approve another massive spending measure — totaling nearly $200 billion — to fund the war through next year, Pentagon officials said.

It shouldn’t take a “CEO President” to figure out that $200 billion is greater than $22 billion.

Digg It!

Transcript:

BUSH: Unfortunately, the Democratic majority in Congress has chosen a different path. The plan they have put forward includes an increase in discretionary spending that is nearly $22 billion more than my budget request.

Some in Congress will tell you that $22 billion is not a lot of money. As business leaders, you know better. As a matter of fact, $22 billion is larger than the annual revenues of most Fortune 500 companies.

And the $22 billion is only for the first year. With every passing year the number gets bigger and bigger, and so over the next five years the increase in federal spending would add up to $205 billion.

And the only way to pay for such a large spending increase is to raise taxes on the American people. So, it’s no surprise that the same members of Congress who are planning the big increase in federal spending are also planning the largest tax increase in American history. At a time when families are working hard to pay their mortgages or pay for their children going to college, now is not the time to be taking money out of their pocket.