Budget cuts Obama offered

[Luddly Neddite]

Here Are the Budget Cuts President Obama Has Offered - TheStreet

NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Though House Speaker John Boehner has demanded more substantial cuts from the White House, President Barack Obama has a long list of programs he wishes to eliminate or shrink in his fiscal year 2013 budget.
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A look through the White House's budget cuts suggests that every department is due for some slashes if the president gets his way. Though this budget proposal is unlikely to be what Congress passes into law, here's a peek at some of the more surprising cuts Obama has proposed.

 

[waltky]

Obama goin' back on cuts he agreed to...

Obama Seeks to Void Cuts He Signed Into Law to Get $2.4T Increase in Debt Limit
February 5, 2013 – As the deadline approaches for the automatic cuts in federal spending that President Barack Obama signed into law when Congress agreed to increase the debt limit by $2.4 trillion in August 2011, President Barack Obama is invoking bipartisanship and calling on Congress to pass new legislation that repeals those cuts and replaces them with smaller ones.

“I know that a full budget may not be finished before March 1 and, unfortunately, that's the date when a series of harmful automatic cuts to job-creating investments and defense spending -- also known as the sequester -- are scheduled to take effect,” Obama told reporters on Tuesday. “So if Congress can’t act immediately on a bigger package, if they can't get a bigger package done by the time the sequester is scheduled to go into effect, then I believe that they should at least pass a smaller package of spending cuts and tax reforms that would delay the economically damaging effects of the sequester for a few more months until Congress finds a way to replace these cuts with a smarter solution,” said Obama.

“There is no reason that the jobs of thousands of Americans who work in national security or education or clean energy, not to mention the growth of the entire economy, should be put in jeopardy just because folks in Washington couldn’t come together to eliminate a few special interest tax loopholes or government programs that we agree need some reform,” Obama continued. "So let me just repeat: Our economy right now is headed in the right direction, and it will stay that way as long as there aren't any more self-inflicted wounds coming out of Washington. So let's keep on chipping away at this problem together, as Democrats and Republicans, to give our workers and our businesses the support that they need to thrive in the weeks and months ahead."

Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, says the sequester was President Obama’s idea: "He proposed it and he insisted it be a part of the 2011 debt limit deal. House Republicans have voted twice to replace the arbitrary and harmful sequestration cuts with targeted, common-sense spending reductions that do not threaten our national security. Unfortunately, Senate Democrats rejected those plans, offering no replacement solutions of their own. “While it is encouraging to see that the president now agrees that his sequestration plan is ‘harmful’ and ‘economically damaging,’ his call for higher taxes on hard-working American families will only serve to discourage economic growth."

Rep. Howard Buck McKeon (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, and Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.), the ranking Republican on the Senate Armed Service Committee, issued a joint statement in response to the president. “America's military has absorbed $487 billion in defense cuts under President Obama, with $500 billion yet to come with sequestration,” read the statement. “Refusing to consider reforms to the mandatory spending [on entitlements] that is driving our debt crisis, while using our troops as a piggy bank to keep unsustainable spending programs on life support, will have both fiscal and strategic consequences,” the statement continued. “We urge the President to lead, rather than loop endlessly around a beaten path. It is in his power to forge a deal that reigns in our debt without levying more taxes on struggling Americans, and without hollowing out an at-war military.” Under the terms of the sequestration deal reached in 2011 – the Budget Control Act -- the Office of Management and Budget is responsible for coming up with $1.2 trillion in cuts in discretionary appropriations and mandatory spending -- divided equally among defense and non-defense -- to take place between 2013 and 2021.

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Obama crony wins contract to give phones to jobless
Tuesday, February 5, 2013 - Critics see poor way to teach skills

A cellphone company whose top executive has close ties to President Obama lobbied for and won a piece of a major new government push to provide Internet service to low-income job-seekers, even though critics say the company’s smartphones are poorly suited to the task of helping those in the program find work. The program’s supporters tout it as a way for the unemployed to learn technical skills, to prepare resumes and to search for jobs, but one of the 14 pilot contracts that the FCC awarded went to Miami-based TracFone Wireless Inc.

TracFone CEO F.J. Pollak has been a frequent White House visitor and his wife Abigail has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars for both Mr. Obama’s 2008 and 2012 campaigns. And although TracFone had originally lobbied for the program, critics say its contract would not provide recipients with skills-boosting computers and services, but would supply high-end Android phones, ready to play games and browse Facebook but doing little in the way of getting a job.

Other companies selected to provide Internet service noted that merely allowing viewers to use apps such as Twitter and run simple Google searches on a small phone screen didn’t meet the spirit of the program’s intent, which included goals of “increasing digital literacy and use of the Internet [to] help bridge the skills gap [and] reduce job search discouragement.” “The small screen, keyboard and perhaps connectivity issues make it harder for smartphone-only users to engage as deeply with the Internet as home broadband users,” wrote John B. Horrigan of the Partnership for Connected Illinois, which will provide DSL hookups and computer hardware for the poor in that state.

Rep. Tim Griffin, Arkansas Republican, said the cellphone spectrum is poorly suited to be a user’s primary Internet portal and that any resume tapped out with two fingers on a cellphone screen would be sure to be sloppy. Mr. Griffin opposes the expansion, but TracFone’s proposal to meet the requirements in the form of a high-end cellphone rather than a workhorse desktop connection is an “outrage,” he said.

Billionaire backing

 

[waltky]

The whole world got their eyes on us...

Panetta: World is watching U.S. on budget
February 13th, 2013 - In his final press briefing as defense secretary, Leon Panetta expressed concern over how the world will view the United States if it fails to avert steep budget cuts due to take effect in two weeks.

"What they (other countries) worry about is what I worry about, which is whether or not we can govern and whether or not we can face the tough decisions that have to be made and resolve those," Panetta said on Wednesday about the budget uncertainty. Mandatory budget cuts impacting much of the government, also known as sequester, would kick in on March 1 if no deal is struck between the White House and Congress to avoid, defer or otherwise soften them. For the Pentagon, sequester would mean almost $500 billion in cuts over 10 years. For 2013 alone, some $46 billion in reduced spending would result in "a serious disruption in defense programs and a sharp decline in our military readiness," Panetta said last week.

As he prepared to leave Washington for his home in California should his planned successor, former Sen. Chuck Hagel, be confirmed by the Senate later this week, Panetta said other countries are watching to see if the U.S. government can come together and solve the problem. "There is a nervousness out there about whether, in fact, ultimately, we can rise to the challenge of governing ourselves and finding answers to the tough issues we are confronting," Panetta said. "That's why I've said when we talk about national security, I think the greatest concern I have for our national security is that budget uncertainty and that inability to govern and find solutions," Panetta said.

Panetta said he was pleased President Barack Obama sought to explain in Tuesday's State of the Union address that budget cuts would have negative consequences on military readiness. "There are jobs that are being lost, there's readiness that has been impacted," Panetta, a former congressman and White House budget director, said. "The uncertainty is hurting people, and it's hurting our country, and members of Congress need to understand that they were elected to protect the public, not to hurt the public. And I hope they'll remember that as they hopefully work towards a resolution of this issue," he added.

Panetta: World is watching U.S. on budget ? CNN Security Clearance - CNN.com Blogs

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Obama Seeks 29 New Programs: ‘Nothing I’m Proposing Should Increase Deficit by Single Dime’
February 13, 2013 - President Barack Obama said in his State of the Union Address on Tuesday night that nothing he was proposing in the speech would “increase our deficit by a single dime.” He then proposed at least 29 new government programs.

“Tonight, I’ll lay out additional proposals that are fully paid for and fully consistent with the budget framework both parties agreed to just 18 months ago,” said Obama. “Let me repeat: Nothing I’m proposing tonight should increase our deficit by a single dime.”

In fiscal year 2008, the year before Obama took office, federal spending was $2.98 trillion, according to the White House Office of Management and Budget. In fiscal 2013, the current year, OMB estimates federal spending will be $3.80 trillion--an increase of 27.5 percent.

Since Obama was first inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2009, the federal government's debt has increased by $5.86 trillion.

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‘Common Sense’ – Not Bipartisanship - Missing in Washington
February 13, 2013 – Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Tuesday that “common sense” is what is missing from Washington – not bipartisanship.

“Bipartisanship is not what is missing in Washington. Common sense is,” he said, giving the Tea Party response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech. “It is often said that there is not enough bipartisanship up here. That is not true. In fact, there is plenty. Both parties have been guilty of spending too much, of protecting their sacred cows, of backroom deals in which everyone up here wins, but every taxpayer loses,” he said. Paul called for “a new bipartisan consensus” – where “Democrats admit that not every dollar spent on domestic programs is sacred” and “Republicans realize that military spending is not immune to waste and fraud.”

Paul called on Congress to pass the Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution, which would include “strict tax and spending limitations.” He endorsed the Penny Plan, which calls for one penny of every dollar that the government currently spends to be cut, which Paul said would balance the budget in six or seven years. “The Penny Plan has been crafted into a bill that millions of conservatives across the country support,” he said. The Penny Plan, originally called the “One Percent Spending Reduction Act of 2011,” was proposed by Rep. Connie Mack (R-Fla.) in 2011 and was designed to cut mandatory and discretionary spending by one percent each year for six consecutive fiscal years.

Paul called for spending cuts that could begin with an end to “all foreign aid to countries that are burning our flag and chanting death to America.” “The president could begin by stopping the F-16s and Abrams tanks being given to the radical Islamic government of Egypt,” Paul said. “Not only should the sequester stand, many pundits say the sequester really needs to be at least $4 trillion to avoid another downgrade of America’s credit rating,” he said. "Everyone is hurt by “trillion-dollar deficits,” Paul said. “Printing more money to feed the never-ending appetite for spending hurts us all. We pay higher prices every time we go to the supermarket or the gas pump. The value of the dollar shrinks with each new day.

“Contrary to what the president claims, big government and debt are not a friend to the poor and the elderly. Big-government debt keeps the poor poor and saps the savings of the elderly. This massive expansion of the debt destroys savings and steals the value of your wages,” Paul added. “Big government makes it more expensive to put food on the table. Big government is not your friend. The president offers you free stuff but his policies keep you poor,” he said. The only “proven” stimulus, Paul said, “is leaving more money in the hands of those who earned it.” “For those who are struggling, we want to you to have something infinitely more valuable than a free phone, we want you to have a job and pathway to success,” Paul added.

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[DiamondDave]

Not bothering to read right now.. because if these are like the 'cuts' he bragged about before that were not cuts, then nothing has really changed.. not like I expected it to